A Stray Little Charmander
by Asaf
Summary: Jake, a 17 years old teenager from Pewter City whose last interest is pokémon or pokémon training, ends up getting stuck with a lost and injured Charmander he comes across in the Viridian Forest because he can't find its owner.
1. Taking a Walk

There was a sound of knocking on the door.

Jake opened his eyes and, after letting out a yawn and stretching on the mattress he was lying on, checked his hand watch for the time. Seven AM. He listened out for a moment, trying to figure out whether somebody had really just knocked on his door or whether it was just his tiredness playing tricks on his mind. A second or two later he heard the knocking again, the sound confirming that there was indeed someone at the door. He groaned with annoyance and stood up, getting a slight headache and a feeling of being dizzy from rising from the rather low height of a mattress on the floor in such a hurry.

Having an actual bed and not just a plain mattress can prevent the headaches caused by sudden changes of attitude, but the inn which Jake had been living in for the past 7 years was a very, _very_ simple one. All he had in his so called bedroom was a mattress covered with simple sheets and a small closet in which he kept his clothes. In the bedroom there were 2 doors; one that led to a small shower and bathroom and one that led to Jake's so called living room. The living room had a small kitchen area with a stove, a microwave and a small refrigerator. It also had an old couch, an old TV and an even older phone which was barely working and which Jake had been trying to replace for more than a month already. There was also a radio which Jake listened to from time to time. On the TV there was a picture of Jake when he was 10 years old. There were also a man and a woman in the picture as well as a girl of about 7 years old with an ocarina in her hand. Next to the picture, there lay the same ocarina from the picture.

Jake walked from the mattress to the closet (a distance of not even two footsteps, seeing how small the "bedroom" actually was) and opened it, letting out a sigh as the knocking on the door of his inn room was heard once more. "I'm coming, I'm coming…" he said with another yawn as he took out some clothes from the closet. Jake was a 17 year old teenager who was only a little taller than the average height of people his age. He had a rather pale skin color, green eyes and hair that was colored somewhere between brown and blond. His hair wasn't exactly what one would call short, being about 5 centimeters long, and it was just the way Jake liked it; it wasn't too short but it was short enough so to not get into his eyes all the time.

After he was fully dressed, with his only pair of jeans, a white T-shirt and his only jacket; a red one which he never zipped close, he went ahead to the "living room" and opened the door. "Oh, hey Jacob." He said, looking at his friend who was standing on the other side of the door with an enthusiastic smile on his face. Jacob was Jake's best friend. They've known each other ever since Jacob and his father moved in to Pewter City 6 years ago.

"Morning Jake!" it was then that Jake noticed that his friend had a backpack on and that he was dressed up as if he was going to go on a walk throughout the entire region of Kanto. "What's with you?" asked Jacob; as if he had been expecting something else upon the opening of the door. "You look as if you just woke up!"

"That's because I did just wake up." said Jake, looking at his friend with a rather blank expression. "_You_ woke me up." There was a short silence during which Jacob stared at Jake, feeling a little awkward. "Why? Why would you do that? The morning is evil…" added Jake with a fake shudder. After another short moment they both chuckled and Jake invited Jacob inside. "But seriously, Jacob, it's only 7 AM." He pointed at the backpack his friend had as they both sat down on the couch, "And what's with the backpack?"

Jacob gave his friend a fake frown, "Have you forgotten?" Jake said nothing, but despite his empty and tired expression Jacob could tell that he was trying to think about what he has apparently forgotten. "I'm going to Pallet Town today. I've told you about it so many times in the past week. Professor Oak's going to give me my pokémon to train!"

Jake let out a sigh, "Oh, right, _that_…" It was all coming back to him now; Jacob has indeed been talking recently about how excited he was to get his first pokémon. Jacob has wanted to become a trainer for quite a while now, but catching a wild pokémon without already having a pokémon to weaken it with first could be a problem. Since Jacob's father was associated with Professor Oak, the professor agreed to give Jacob a pokémon.

Jacob was also 17. He was about as tall as Jake, dark-haired and he had brown eyes. "You said you'd come with me since you don't have to go to work this week."

"True." said Jake, "But the owner of the restaurant came over yesterday and said that I have to work today. In fact I have to be there in about an hour…"

"What do you mean you have to work?" asked Jacob, sounding disappointed. "He can't do that after promising you the week off." Oh, if only you guys knew how long it had taken Jacob to convince Jake to come with him to do something that was related to pokémon.

"It doesn't matter whether he can or can't do that." said Jake with a sigh before sarcastically adding, "I need this job so that I can keep this lovely suite of mine and it's not that easy to find a job these days. I don't want to get fired." Jake has been working in that restaurant for the past 7 years, which was the main reason why he was living in an inn and not in the streets. "Sorry Jacob, I know I promised to come with you but I just can't risk losing my job." In all honesty, at first Jake didn't want to go with Jacob. Going from Pewter City to Pallet Town meant going through Viridian City, and going through Viridian City meant going through the Viridian Forest which was literally filled with pokémon. But eventually Jake agreed since getting his first pokémon was important for Jacob. Now, however, he really couldn't go.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped…"

"Sorry bro, I really was going to come with you." Jake has never been enthusiastic when it came to pokémon. In fact, one could say that he wanted nothing to do with pokémon whatsoever. He was glad that Jacob understood that _that_ wasn't the reason why he couldn't come with him to Pallet Town. "How long will it take until you come back?"

"Well…" said Jacob, looking as if he was calculating, "It should take me a day to get to Pallet Town on my bicycle, so I'll be back tomorrow in the evening." There was a short pause and then Jacob smiled, "Hey, maybe when I get back I can help you catch your own pokémon." He said, looking at his friend with a hopeful expression.

Jake immediately shook his head, "Not a chance." He looked at his friend after letting out a sigh, "When will you stop with that? Just because so many people have pokémon doesn't mean that everybody should have one."

Jacob let out a sigh of despair. "Come on Jake, what's with you? You're like the only person in the entire city that doesn't own a pokémon." No matter how many times Jacob tried convincing Jake to get his own pokémon he has never been able to change his friend's mind. And no matter how many times he tried figuring out the reason why Jake kept refusing Jake never told him.

"Look, I should be getting ready for work." said Jake, changing the subject as he got up from the couch. "Give me a call when you get to Pallet Town." There was a short pause during which Jacob also stood up, "You know, so that I'll be sure that nothing ate you on the way."

"Jake, pokémon don't eat people." said Jacob as they both laughed. He then gave a slight frown at the fact that Jake again changed the subject before going towards the door. "But sure, I'll give you a call when I get there." He opened the door with a smile, "See you tomorrow in the evening."

"Bye."

Jacob got out and closed the door behind him, leaving Jake alone. Jake sat back down on the couch once Jacob was gone. He thought about his friend's question for a moment before standing back up and walking over to his TV. He took up the picture that was on in and examined it closely. After a short moment of standing absolutely still he let out a shaky sigh before placing the picture back where it belonged. After that he prepared for work and left, taking the ocarina with him and putting it in his bag.

Jake walked down the street in his usual, calm manner, but his peace was interrupted when he heard a familiar voice behind him. "Hey, Jakey!" That voice, to Jake's ears, was like the horrible sound of rubbing a knife against another knife.

Jake turned around, his expression an expression of someone who wasn't in the mood. "What do you want _Brad_? I'm kind of on my way to work."

The cocky-looking teenager approached Jake with a boastful grin. "I thought I should let you know that I'm going to Pallet Town to get a pokémon today."

"Really? Professor Oak's going to give a pokémon to _you_?" As you might have noticed by now, Brad isn't a very nice person. While Jake wasn't a pokémon expert, he knew that they were living creatures that had to be treated properly. "How much did you pay to whoever convinced him to do _that_? Or maybe the professor just doesn't know you well enough to figure out that you're one of the devil's minions?" Brad and Jake have been what one would call mortal enemies ever since they were little.

"What's that to you?" asked Brad, annoyed as always by Jake's witty response and by the fact that he has never been able to get on Jake's nerves.

"You're the one who came to me in order to tell me about what's happening in your life, which, by the way, is the last thing I care about in the entire universe." The main difference between Jake and whoever else Brad liked to bully was that Jake was no pushover.

"You're not going to get a pokémon, are you?" Brad didn't even give Jake a chance to answer, which kind of indicated that he had come up with what he was going to say to Jake before even approaching him. "I think you're just afraid that I'll- no, wait, you _know_ that I'll be a better trainer than you." Since Jake never allowed Brad to get to him Brad had this obsession of being better than Jake at pretty much everything. Well, everything except for playing the ocarina. Brad thought music was 'for dorks like Jake'. "Everybody knows that's the reason you don't like pokémon."

"By everybody you mean just you right?"

"Whatever Jakey! You'll see, one day I'll be the champion! You're lucky I don't have time for you right now because I have to be at Pallet Town by tomorrow morning!"

"Give me a call from Indigo Plateau once you get to the hall of fame." said Jake with a chuckle as he walked off.

After a regular workday at the restaurant Jake went back to the inn he was staying in and entered his room, locking the door behind him. "Home sweet home…" he said to himself, a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice. It was already early evening by the time he arrived back at his lodging. He prepared himself a rather simple dinner and ate it before sitting down on the old couch and turning on the TV. What appeared on the screen was some pokémon battle which was being lively broadcasted from some gym in the Sinnoh region. Jake sighed and switched to a different channel. This time there were a bunch of people sitting in a television studio and talking about pokémon. He switched the channel again. Another pokémon battle. And another. Heck, there was even a channel dedicated completely to pokémon fashion!

Jake groaned and turned off the TV. He sat there on the couch for a while before deciding to turn on the radio, letting out a happy sigh and closing his eyes when music began playing. However, it was only a matter of seconds before the music stopped and a young woman's voice was heard instead. _"This type of relaxing music is perfect for helping your pokémon calm down and…"_

Jake let out another groan of annoyance and switched to another channel. _"Welcome to Professor Oak's Pokémon Talk!"_ Jake felt one of his eyes twitch, and he facepalmed so hard that it actually hurt both his hand and his face. He decided to turn off the radio just to be on the safe side, because he didn't want to end up throwing it out of the window. He took off his jacket and placed it on one end of the couch, lying down and using it as a pillow. About a minute or two later, the phone rang. Jake got up from the couch and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jake?" came Jacob's voice through the phone.

"Oh, hi! I take it that you made it there in one piece?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I'll be meeting the professor tomorrow in the morning."

"Glad to hear you're okay Jacob. Let me ask, did you happen to see-"

"Brad?" asked Jacob, his voice indicating that he had anticipated the question. "Yeah, he's here in Pallet Town too."

Jake only chuckled. "Did he brag about becoming a champion to you already?"

"Yeah." answered Jacob, "Why, did he brag about it in front of you too?"

Jake laughed, "Yes, just this morning." He could hear Jacob laughing as well. "I tell you, that guy does nothing but talk and talk. His mother should have named him Brag instead of Brad. Anyways, where are you staying? In an inn?"

"I was going to, but this very nice lady offered me to stay in her place. She said I can use her son's room because he's been gone for the past three years." said Jacob. "I actually feel a little bad… She said she hasn't heard from him ever since he left Pallet Town on his pokémon journey." There was a short silence. "But never mind that, what are you up to?"

"There's nothing on TV or the radio… Every single thing has pokémon in it, it's maddening!" exclaimed Jake, much to his friend's amusement. "I think I'll go for a walk in the Viridian Forest. You know, because there's no city noise there and all."

"I just don't get you Jake." said Jacob. "When I first asked you to come with me here you said you didn't want to go through the Viridian Forest because there's pokémon all over the place, and yet you take walks there in the evenings on an almost regular basis!" it was a habit of Jake which Jacob was never able to explain.

"That's because there are mostly bug pokémon there and they don't come out after it gets dark." said Jake, grabbing his jacket and putting it on, again not zipping it.

"I guess that's true… Listen, I have to go now, I'll see you tomorrow when I get back okay?"

"Sure. Have fun."

Jake hung up and went outside. The Viridian Forest was located not far away from Pewter City – a matter of a few minutes' walk. Jake always enjoyed taking walks in quiet and peaceful places. It did however take him a while to learn that the Viridian Forest was a good place for that only when it was dark. The first time he entered the forest he ended up being chased by a Beedrill. The second time he went there, he came across a Caterpie which, for some reason, decided to follow him around. Despite him telling it to go away, it seemed to have taken a liking to him and just wouldn't listen. The next and third time, by chance, happened to be after the sun went down. Ever since then he has never entered the forest during daytime.

As he walked through the forest, Jake made sure to listen out carefully and take in the sights. He enjoyed nature more than almost anything, especially when it came to a beautiful and quiet place like the Viridian Forest. It was simply relaxing. He enjoyed the feeling of the wind blowing against him, the sound of the leaves rustling and the sound the grass made as he walked through the forest. Being there allowed him to distance himself from the not-so-pleasant reality he was living in. Let's face the facts; he was living in what had to be the worst inn on the entire planet, he had to rely on a not-so-stable job at a restaurant that might go bankrupt without warning in order to have something to eat and he felt like his life wasn't going anywhere. As much as Jake was a person who was satisfied with little, it felt good to just go to a quiet spot and not think about all the troubles of life from time to time.

The relaxed teenager continued walking through the forest until something caught his eye; a light coming from a deeper part of the forest. It seemed like somebody had put up a fire, but he couldn't tell whether that said person was going to remember to put it out. In fact, it was possible that whoever lit up the fire was already gone from the place. He didn't want to risk letting the entire forest burn so he decided to go and make sure that everything was okay. However, when he finally found the source of the light, he discovered that it wasn't a fire somebody had put up. It was actually a Charmander. It was unconscious and, from the looks of it, it was in a pretty bad shape.

**A/N: I would like to congratulate those of you who have made it this far; it means that your brain has the mental capabilities of dealing with my writing (I believe in self-humor). **

**I'll be more than happy if you decide to follow the story; those of you who have read my MLP stories know that if I start a story, I finish it. If you do decide to follow, I'll be more than happy if you leave a review. If you do review, I'll be delighted to hear whatever you might think about the story. Also, if you have any questions, you are more than free to add them to your reviews or send me a PM. I promise I'll answer everything.**

**If you plan on reading on, then you should know what to expect. As for the anime, you might want to forget about it. I didn't watch a lot of it, and most of the episodes I did watch were in the first 5 seasons. Therefore, you shouldn't expect anything in this story to be like in the anime. For example, if any of the gym leaders appear in the story (which will happen eventually), their personalities will be based on the games and not the anime. The same goes for Elite Four members and whoever else you can think of. There's no Gary Oak or Ash Ketchum; there's Blue (Oak) and Red (badass). The only thing you **_**can**_** expect to be close to the anime is, um… How can I explain this? Did you see the second pokémon movie, "The Power of One"? It's my favorite pokémon movie of all time; my childhood was pretty much based on it. If you guys haven't seen I highly recommend it, not only because you'll enjoy it but also because I'm planning to make a pretty big reference to the plot of the movie later on in the story. You will not be able to understand this upcoming part of the story (when I get there) if you haven't seen the movie.**

**PS. If Ash Ketchum does appear in the story, I'll only bring him into the story in order to make fun of him in comparison to Red. Don't throw eggs at me for it though.**

**BTW, I always proofread my stories for grammatical / spelling errors because I type very fast. I only read a chapter once before posting it so you'll have to excuse me if I miss anything.**


	2. Looking for a Pokémon Center

**(A/N: You'll most likely realize soon enough that I sometimes leave notes in the middle of a chapter. I use them to explain / remind my readers of things that I think are important.)**

As most of you probably know, the size of the flame at the tip of the tail of a Charmander / Charmeleon / Charizard is an indication of how healthy the pokémon in question is. A flame that appears to be smaller than usual is mostly indicates fatigue and exhaustion. A flame as small as the one at the tip of the tail of the Charmander Jake was looking at, however, was a sight that would most likely bring great worry to any trainer that saw it. Had it been about 10 minutes earlier and less dark in the forest, Jake might have ended up going by without noticing the small amount of light produced by the flame from as far away as he had been before he approached. Don't get the wrong impression though; the small size of the flame at the tip of Charmander's tail made no impression on Jake whatsoever, seeing that he didn't know what to make of it due to his lack of knowledge on pokémon. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the Charmander looked physically injured, he might have ended up just walking away with the impression that the little pokémon was taking a nap.

As he stood there and looked at the miserable-looking creature, he knew more than well that he couldn't just leave it there. A part of him was telling him, as horrible as it may sound, to not even come near the unconscious pokémon and just leave it in the forest. Don't misjudge Jake for it though; he's not a bad person, there's a reason why he keeps trying to seclude himself from pokémon altogether. All of that is not relevant at the moment, however.

Despite how his body was trying to resist, Jake went ahead and slowly picked up Charmander. In his opinion disliking pokémon was one thing but leaving a pokémon to die was inhumane, since they are after all living creatures. The Charmander wasn't very heavy and Jake was able to hold it against his chest with only one hand, something he was very glad about because that meant he could use his other hand in order to hold the dinosaur-like pokémon's tail and keep it, along with the flame at its tip, as far away from him as possible.

One of the main disadvantages at taking a walk through the Viridian Forest after the sun goes down is, obviously, the whole idea of walking through a dark forest. However, the flame at the tip of Charmander's tail, despite how small it was, made the whole process of leaving the forest much easier than it would have been otherwise. Jake's walks through the woods quite frequently resulted with him tripping over something or with him almost waking up some sleeping bug pokémon which he has failed to take notice of due to the lack of light. The fact that having the unconscious fire-type pokémon with him as a light source did not however make him forget about the fact that he was actually holding a pokémon, something he has never done for many, many years. During the time he spent running back towards Pewter City he kept praying that it wouldn't wake up all of a sudden.

Part of him was truly worried for the little Charmander's well being, but another part of him was more eager to get away from it and never come near a pokémon again (it is true that he could have left it in the forest to begin with, but he didn't even consider doing something that would have been so cruel). He knew that he couldn't let Charmander out of his sight before getting it to a pokémon center. As much as he barely cared for pokémon, he would have never forgiven himself if he hadn't at least found some help for Charmander. It was only shortly after reentering Pewter City that he suddenly remembered a rather crucial detail: he had no idea where the nearest pokémon center was.

Now think about this for a moment: the entire world Jake lives in literally revolves around pokémon. Even those who aren't trainers have basic knowledge about them. He, on the other hand, didn't even know where the pokémon center in his city was, a pokémon-related piece of information that is the most basic! If people could see him as he ran through the street with the unconscious Charmander they would have found Jake's lack of knowledge amusing if not pathetic. Another problem was, since it was already a rather late hour, that there were no people in the streets. How was he going to find the pokémon center if he couldn't even ask anybody for directions? **(A/N: I know that in the games the towns aren't really big. However, whenever there's a city / town in this story, I want you to think of it as an actual-sized town / city. Because let's face it, a "town" with like 4 houses, like in the games, makes no sense at all.)**

After a short moment of despair he decided to just go and knock on a random door (he also felt a little stupid for not thinking about doing that right away). So, he went ahead and did just that. He waited for the door to open, having heard a voice from within tell him "wait just a minute, I'm coming!", and as he waited he could all of a sudden feel the unconscious Charmander he was holding begin to stir. He froze and, after quite a hesitation, looked down at the pokémon. Since finding it in the Viridian forest and up until that moment he hasn't really looked at it. The Charmander stirred some more before suddenly opening its eyes, which were adorably large. It looked up at Jake for a short moment (while Jake's heart began beating as fast as the heart of a man who had just finished a marathon) and then fell unconscious again. Seeing it open its eyes, even if it did pass out again a few seconds afterwards, was a good sign which offered some sort of a relief.

Another short moment passed before the door was finally opened. Jake immediately asked for directions and then took off again, not paying much attention to the questions he received from his helper about what was wrong with Charmander. Having no people out in the streets made the whole process of getting to the pokémon center quite easy since there was nobody there to stop him out of curiosity or panic and ask him what in the world has happened. In all honesty, sometimes Jake had a notion that people cared for pokémon more than they cared for each other. It was one of the many things regarding pokémon that he could not understand at all. In fact it didn't seem to make even the slightest amount of sense to begin with, and as he thought about it he recalled the phone call from Jacob earlier in the evening when Jacob told him about the lady that offered him a place to rest at for the night. How could her son, who from the sound of the concern of his mother was probably a few years younger than Jake was, just vanish like that? It's not the whole idea of going on a pokémon journey that repelled Jake; it was the fact that that lady's son hasn't even called her to tell her how he was doing for 3 years already. Were his pokémon that important to him that they made him forget about his mother's basic right to know that her own child was okay? The more Jake thought about the subject, the more incomprehensible it appeared and the more he wanted not to think about it.

After about a minute or two of running, and following the exact directions he received, Jake finally found what he has been so desperately looking for; the Pewter City's pokémon center. Or, at least, one of the pokémon centers in Pewter City. Pokémon centers are very common in every city in Kanto. In the larger cities one can find a pokémon center around almost every corner. Jake has always been curious about finding out whether there are less hospitals than pokémon centers, but a part of him felt like he would regret discovering the answer. Almost everywhere he went there was a pokémon center or a pokémon mart. There was even one center right in front of the inn he was staying in, and every morning when he woke up he ended up seeing it when he looked out the window. Now that he was thinking about it he should have ran to _that_ specific pokémon center instead of looking for the closest one. That would have probably saved him some time, but in the heat of the moment the fact that there was a pokémon center right next to where he has been living at for the past 7 years had completely slipped his mind. **(A/N: Again, I want you to think of the cities as much, much larger than they are in the games. Therefore it makes sense if a city has more than just one pokémon center.)**

The only thing, probably, that Jake knew about pokémon centers was that they were open 24/7 just like a regular hospital. Therefore the fact that it was now somewhere past midnight did not stand between him and his goal, which was to get the Charmander to a pokémon center in order to have somebody heal its wounds. The light was on inside the pokémon center, and that eliminated the small worry Jake had about finally reaching the pokémon center only to find out that it was not open for whatever reason. He ran inside without too much hesitation. The pokémon center was completely empty with the exception of a few nurses who were sitting behind the reception counter. Each of the nurses appeared to be doing something unrelated to her job as a result of boredom, seeing that there weren't really any pokémon for them to take care of at the moment. In fact the nurses seemed so bored that they failed to notice him enter. The place was as silent as a graveyard and Jake was already starting to dislike the fact that he was there. Feeling the need to get out of the pokémon center as soon possible and wanting to give the still unconscious Charmander to somebody who will take care of it, he ran over to the nurses.

"Excuse me!" he said, raising his voice in order to make sure that he gets their attention. Before he could say another word, however, he was cut short by one of the nurses.

"Good heavens!" she exclaimed, getting up and quickly walking over to the teenager in front of her while the other nurses only looked with worry at their new patient. She looked at the unconscious pokémon for a moment before all of a sudden slapping Jake across the face.

"Ouch?!" he almost ended up dropping Charmander because he hasn't been expecting that in the slightest. "What was that for?!"

"You trainers nowadays are so irresponsible!" said the nurse angrily, almost shouting her words. "Look at this pokémon!" As much as Jake was angry, and had every right to be angry, he went ahead and did what she said. "It's beaten up so badly and the flame on its tale looks like it could go out any second now!"

"The flame?..."

The nurse groaned with annoyance, "You don't even know the simplest fact there is to know about your pokémon? It's a good thing you haven't taken it for a swim yet!" Jake frowned and was about to say something but was cut short by her again. "You trainers train your pokémon so hard sometimes without even considering that you might actually end up hurting them! Pokémon are living things, young man!"

She seemed like she was about to say something else but Jake, having grown tired of her accusations, was the one to cut her short this time. "This pokémon is not mine." He said, not too calmly but without raising his voice like she had raised hers a moment ago. "I found it in the Viridian Forest." He looked at the nurse, who stared back at him without saying a word. "You can apologize now."

The nurse looked at one of the other nurses who nodded before getting up and taking the unconscious Charmander from Jake. "I'm sorry, it's just that some trainers these days make me so mad…" she said, before saying something quietly to the other nurse who again simply nodded before going away with Charmander to an inner part of the pokémon center. **(A/N: Another thing about the games that doesn't make sense to me is the whole idea of a pokémon being completely healed in only a matter of seconds. With your permission I'm going to relate to pokémon centers as hospitals where the treatment actually takes time.)**

"So, uh… Will it be fine and stuff?" asked Jake, wondering whether it will be okay for him to leave now that he has gotten Charmander to a pokémon center.

"It's not in a good condition, I'll tell you that…" said the nurse, "But now that it's here in a pokémon center it should be fine." There was a short silence. "It's a good thing you found it; I doubt it would have stayed alive much longer if it weren't for you." What she was saying didn't really make Jake feel like some sort of a hero. The pokémon center was still giving him a bad feeling not to mention that he was really tired, seeing how late of an hour it was already. "Also bug-type pokémon come out after the night… That wouldn't have ended very well either…"

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me…" muttered Jake quietly, remembering that time with the Beedrill, "So, uh…" he said after another short pause, "I guess I'll be leaving now, bye." He turned around to leave, only to have the nurse pull him back by the ear.

"Where do you think you're going mister?" she asked with a frown on her face.

"Home?" asked Jake innocently, wincing as she again pulled his ear.

"I don't think so young man. What exactly are we supposed to do with this pokémon after we take care of it?" she asked, still holding Jake by the ear.

"What do you want from me? It's not mine." said Jake, this time making her let go of his ear just to be on the safe side.

"So what if it's not yours? You found it and obviously whoever left it like that isn't a very good trainer."

Jake stood there for a short moment and then his eyes widened as he realized what she was implying. "What, me? _Take a pokémon_? No no no no no no no no! No can do! I am _not_ a pokémon trainer."

"You know what kiddo, I don't care. You found it and I'm not allowed to just throw it into the streets. Besides, you need to take some responsibility. You brought it here after all."

Jake sighed in defeat. After all, what was such a small pokémon going to do on its own? "Fine." He said with a frown. "But I'm not keeping it. I'll find who it belongs to."

"I don't care what you do with it kid; all I have to do is make sure that someone responsible takes this pokémon from here once we're done taking care of it."

"So now what?" asked Jake, who was still clearly annoyed.

"Well I don't know how long exactly this is going to take." She pointed towards what appeared to be a waiting area. It had some sofas and a vending machine. "But because your pokémon is-"

"No, it's not mine."

The nurse rolled her eyes. "Because it's so badly hurt it will probably take a few hours. You'll probably have to wait here all night." Jake sighed. "Don't worry; people sometimes end up sleeping in a pokémon center. If you want we can make you something to eat, we have a kitchen here."

"It's okay, I'm not hungry. Thanks anyways."

With that the nurse went away, probably to help the other nurses now that they finally had some actual work to do, and Jake slowly walked over to the waiting area. He bought a bottle of water from the vending machine before sitting down on one of the sofas, trying to figure out what in the world he has gotten himself into. He hated to admit it, but the sofa was actually more comfortable than the stupid mattress in that tiny inn room. As he sat there he couldn't help but think about the Charmander he had found. He remembered how he felt its tiny heart beating. He also remembered that one moment when Charmander actually woke up. He was just unable to stop thinking about the way it had looked at him back then. After some time of thinking and talking to no one, since nobody else came to the pokémon center, he fell asleep.

The next time Jake opened his eyes it was already morning. He checked his hand watch; 7:19 AM. At first he was confused upon seeing that he was not in his inn room, but after a few moments the events of the previous night came back to him. He sat up with a sigh, feeling his head start to ache due to the fact that he hasn't really slept that much. You know those really powerful headaches where you can actually feel throbbing in your head? Well, this was one of those headaches. The bottle of water he had purchased from the vending machine was half empty and he immediately drank the rest of the water, feeling somewhat better immediately afterwards. There was still nobody else in the pokémon center besides him and a few nurses.

A few minutes later the nurse he had spoken to last night came back from the room she had gone into and she was carrying Charmander in her arms. The dinosaur-like pokémon seemed as if it has never been bruised once in its entire life. The flame at the tip of its tail was much larger and, from its expression, it seemed rather happy. The nurse saw Jake was awake and came over, "Good as new." she said with a smile.

_"Char!"_ exclaimed the little pokémon, causing the nurse to let out one of those "aww's" one lets out when looking at a puppy.

"All better now, are we?" asked the nurse, looking at the pokémon with a jolly smile. "That's a good girl!"

"Girl?" asked Jake all of a sudden.

_"Char!"_

"Yes." said the nurse, confused by how much it seemed to surprise Jake. "Pokémon have to come from somewhere. You should know that by now, you're not 10." She came to a stop next to Jake, who was obviously dying to move away from Charmander now that it was awake.

To his horror (we can call it that), the pokémon was looking directly at him with its adorable smile. _"Char!"_

"What does she want?" asked Jake, looking at the nurse for just a brief moment.

"I think she likes you." answered the nurse with a smile as she placed Charmander down on the sofa, much to Jake's noticeable discomfort.

"Uh… why?" asked he, keeping his eyes fixed on Charmander the entire time.

"Well you brought her here. Pokémon are very intelligent, they have a good memory."

_"Char!"_ Jake had the huge urge to jump away as the pokémon suddenly walked over to him and affectionately rubbed its cheek against his arm, but he was too nervous in order to actually get up and move away.

"See?" asked the nurse, still smiling that happy smile of hers. "This looks like the beginning of a wonderful friendship, doesn't it?"

**A/N: Doesn't it? =3**


	3. Leaving the Pokémon Center

**A/N: To coldblue (guest), I'd love to answer all of your questions but it's a bit of a problem since I can't send you a private message because you're a guest. Opening a user on this website is really simple and I'll be more than happy to answer everything if you make one. That way you can have the site notify you about stories you've decided to follow and all other useful stuff too. ^_^**

The pokémon center: a place which people enter with an expression of concern upon their faces and leave with an expression of relief and happiness instead. They come in while they're concerned for their pokémon, who they consider as friends and sometimes even as family and leave feeling as if a great load has been lifted off their chests once their pokémon feel better. Now take the routine I have just described (you can even call it the circle of life if you want to because it's quite accurate), and imagine the same thing but switch the mood from the end (the relief) with the mood from the beginning (the concern).

Jake had entered the pokémon center with a feeling of relief at having finally found the place, but he was leaving it with a feeling of 'what have I ever done to deserve this?' or 'this is some kind of a cruel joke'. When he decided to bring Charmander to a pokémon center he didn't realize that he was going to get way more than he had bargained for. Instead of simply leaving her (it is a she-Charmander in case you've forgotten) in the pokémon center like he had originally planned to he found himself walking outside of the pokémon center _with_ the little dinosaur-like pokémon, which was walking right next to him.

He stopped after taking a few steps away from the pokémon center. His hands were in the pockets of his jacket, as was his habit sometimes when walking and he simply stood there for a few moments while silently looking out into the street ahead of him. It was almost 8 o'clock in the morning by the time he had finally left the pokémon center so the streets were no longer empty. People were on their way to work or to wherever else it was they wanted to go to. He could also see a few pokémon trainers. Most of the trainers he saw daily were not really from Pewter City, they were only there in order to go and challenge the pokémon gym.

Jake suddenly hesitated. Usually just staring into the distance helped him not to think about whatever was going on, but seeing the pokémon trainers reminded him of the fact that he still had a pokémon he did not want standing right next to him. He didn't look down to see whether Charmander was still standing right next to his leg, as if trying to convince himself that it was all a dream and that once he looked he would find absolutely nothing there. Eventually he did look, but Charmander was still there. It wasn't a dream. He had a pokémon he couldn't just leave on the street and that was without a doubt the reality he was now living in.

Charmander was standing perhaps a few inches away from his leg and was looking around rather restlessly. It was obvious that the little pokémon's attention was easily caught by everything that moved. Perhaps she wasn't used to being in a city or to seeing so many people at once. But if that was true then it meant that Charmander had no trainer, for if she had had a trainer before she would not seem so unused to the environment she was now in. All that however did not discourage Jake at all. He couldn't jump to conclusions. Hopefully this pokémon did have a trainer and hopefully finding that trainer wasn't going to take too long.

It was a good thing that Jake didn't have to go to work that day, unlike the day before, which meant that he could devote all of his time to finding Charmander's trainer and returning to the pokémon-less life he had up until he had taken that walk through the Viridian Forest. Charmander seemed to eventually grow bored of everything around them and she looked up at Jake once more, again with a happy expression on her face. Aside from the cuteness there was also some naivety in her expression; was she that clueless to the fact that Jake was so uncomfortable next to her?

_"Char!_" she said all of a sudden, getting nothing but a silent and slightly cold stare.

"…"

"_Char!"_

"You can talk and yet at the same time you can't." said Jake, referring to how pokémon are only able to say their own names but nothing else other than their own names. He never understood that. "That's stupid." Charmander then decided to hug Jake's leg and snuggle against it, causing him to sigh. "Of course." He lifted the leg in question slightly into the air, waiting patiently until Charmander decided to let go before starting to slowly walk in the direction of the inn he was staying in. It made sense that he would be able to think of a good way to solve his little problem after getting some breakfast.

Charmander, of course, tagged along even though Jake never told her to. He never bothered to do that because he knew that the pokémon was going to follow him, even though he was still unable to explain why. The little fire-type pokémon's curiosity at everything that her eyes noticed eventually got the better of her and Jake found himself going back for her because she went to look at everything and everyone that seemed interesting. "Come along." said Jake rather firmly at some point. It lasted for perhaps a minute before Charmander was again about to wonder off, only that this time she stopped upon hearing Jake clear his throat with obvious annoyance. Other than that Jake hadn't shown any impatience even though he was dying to find Charmander's owner and get this whole nightmare over with.

"I've just noticed that you walk really slow." he said at some point, stopping. Charmander stopped next to his leg and looked up at him with her wide eyes. Her expression was more innocent than a baby's.

"_Char?_" again she affectionately rubbed against his leg, and Jake's eyes became wide as she reached up towards him with her tiny arms, as if wanting him to pick her up.

"No." said Jake bluntly and carried on walking.

"_Char._" she said as she followed, like a child trying to change his / her parent's mind.

"No."

"_Char._"

"No."

"_Char._"

"…"

"_Char."_

Just ignore her, he said to himself.

"_Char._" Jake facepalmed and came to a stop. He turned around and looked down at Charmander. Charmander also stopped and looked up at him. Maybe she finally got the message?

"_Char!_"

"Ugh, fine!" said Jake in defeat, bending over and picking up Charmander in his arms. "But only because you walk really slow."

"_Ch-_"

"Don't even dare. I'll put you back down." this time Charmander made no response, but Jake could tell that the pokémon was pleased and content. "No snuggling either." At least he was able to get back to his inn room a lot faster that way.

Usually people lock the door behind them when they enter the lodging. However, seeing that his greatest fear was having Charmander somehow set his entire apartment on fire, Jake decided to leave the door unlocked just to be on the safe side. He placed Charmander down at the corner of his living room (making sure to pick the corner that was as far away from any piece of furniture as possible) before making himself some breakfast. All the while Charmander continued sitting at the exact same spot and in an adorably silly position. At first Jake was surprised at how obedient Charmander was, but he figured that probably the only positive aspect of having the pokémon like him so much was the fact that she listened to him.

Still, he was quite worried about what might happen if Charmander's flame accidentally came in contact with anything that wasn't the wall or the floor. After a short moment of thinking he decided to call Jacob, realizing that he would probably know what to do in order to avoid getting fatally injured. He picked up the phone and dialed the number of Jacob's house but hung up about a second or two afterwards when he suddenly remembered that Jacob was still in Pallet Town. Perhaps he really should have written down Jacob's pokégear number. Jacob had gotten his own pokégear about a week ago but Jake of course remained true to his stubborn nature regarding anything that was related to pokémon and didn't even write down the number.

He returned to making his breakfast and, as he ate, began thinking of ideas on how to find Charmander's trainer. What he brought into consideration the most while thinking about each possibility that came to his mind was how long it would take to return Charmander to her previous owner. The fastest method, obviously, was the one he would prefer to carry out. Simply walking up to people with a Charmander in his hands and asking them whether they had lost one was not going to work. It had to be the most stupid idea Jake had ever come up with in his entire life.

"I guess the best thing I can do is make notices and hang them around the city." he concluded and then sat down to write a so-called sample which he would later photocopy at the city's library. "Alright, this should do it…" he muttered after he had finished. Looking at Charmander, he saw the little pokémon was staring at him. She must have been staring at him the entire time. "Are you hungry or something?" he asked randomly, looking down at his plate and what was left in it as he did. "Do pokémon like toasts?"

"_Char._"

"You know," Jake said sarcastically, "I feel like I can have intellectual conversation with you."

"_Char?_"

"Yes." He paused for a moment and stared at the notice he had written, again trying to think how he had gotten himself into this mess. "I guess it's a good thing that pokémon can't talk…" he said after a rather long silence, "Sometimes I just hate it when people talk. We have a bad habit of judging even the ones closest to us when we have much greater faults than they do. We also tend to say the wrong thing more than we tend to say the right thing. In the end we sometimes just drive each other away." He paused for a moment before looking at Charmander. The young female fire-type was still looking directly at him, and it seemed like she understood every single word he was saying.

"You just sit there and listen. Humans aren't always good listeners; all of us feel like having the last word all the time." He studied the pokémon's expression for a moment before carrying on. "I don't see anything in you other than the fact that you're paying attention to what I'm saying. Sometimes I see trainers who aren't very nice people and yet their pokémon seem to love them with all their hearts. I guess one thing a pokémon does better than a human is to accept other people despite all the bad things about them." He got up and walked over to the TV, looking at the picture that was on it. "One day I asked my sister what was it that she found so appealing in writing a journal. She told me that paper has more patience than people."

All of a sudden, after a rather long moment of him staring at the picture, he looked at Charmander with a frown. "I guess you pokémon are like paper in that regard. You really are more patient than us people. But there's a big difference between a pokémon and a sheet of paper." Charmander blinked in confusion as she noticed that Jake was raising his voice without even noticing it himself. He seemed like he was about to say something else but he didn't get to say it because the telephone began ringing. Jake stared at Charmander for another moment before picking it up.

"Hello?"

"Jake?" Jake smiled as he recognized Jacob's voice. "This is Jacob. Listen, this is so cool! I just left the professor's lab, I got a-"

"Listen!" Jake blurted out, cutting him short, "There is a freaking dinosaur in my room that is going to burn down the entire city with its tail!"

It took Jacob a few moments to say anything, probably because of how stupid what Jake had just said sounded to him. "What?"

"After saying goodbye to you on the phone yesterday I went for my walk through the Viridian Forest and I found this pokémon there. It was hurt so I took it to a pokémon center and-"

"Aww, Jake, you're such a softy." Jake frowned upon hearing his friend chuckle.

"Shut up. Anyways now I'm stuck with this thing until I find out who it belongs to." Jake heard Jacob gasp and hurried to cut him short by saying "If you say something like 'now you can be a pokémon trainer too and we can go on a magical adventure and stuff' I will strangle you." Jacob said nothing. "Listen, I've barely slept and I've been around this thing since I woke up this morning. I'm going crazy. When will you be back here?" I understand that from Jake's behavior around Charmander so far it doesn't really look like he's going crazy but that's only because Jake has always been good at acting as if nothing was wrong. Deep inside him he kept wishing that the pokémon in his room would suddenly disappear.

"Not before the evening, maybe the afternoon if I make haste." From Jacob's tone it was easy to guess that he knew that having Jake and a pokémon alone in the same room was a bad idea.

"Dude, it's been staring at me with those eyes for like eternity and I think it's hungry. It's going to eat me. It's going to spit fire in order to roast me and then it will eat me."

"Jake, pokémon don't eat people." said Jacob with a sigh, "You just need to get some pokémon food from a pokémart and you'll be all set. What pokémon is this? I can't really help you from here if I don't even know what pokémon you had found."

"It's a Char."

"…" Jacob said nothing for a very long moment. "What?" This had to be the weirdest phone call he has ever had in his entire life.

"Yeah."

"I don't…"

"You know how pokémon only say their names?"

"Uh-huh."

Jake looked at Charmander who was still sitting in the corner. "You, say 'char'."

"_Char!_"

"See?" asked Jake, waiting for his friend's response. "A Char."

All of a sudden Jacob started laughing. "Dude, there's no such thing as a 'Char'!"

"…"

"That sounds like a Charmander to me."

"A Charmander?" asked Jake, confused.

"_Charmander!_" exclaimed the little pokémon with a jolly expression.

"See?" asked Jacob with a chuckle.

Jake said nothing for a few moments. "But all it has ever said so far is 'char'. What the…" he looked at Charmander with a frown and pointed an accusing finger at her. "You set me up!"

On the other side of the line Jacob began laughing once again. "I'm pretty sure Charmander didn't set you up."

"Stop laughing!" said Jake, feeling embarrassed.

"But it's funny… Alright, alright, I'm done."

"I guess I can't photocopy this then…" said Jake, looking at the sheet of paper that was on his kitchen table.

"What?"

"I decided to make notices in order to find this pokémon's trainer."

"You wrote 'Char', didn't you?" asked Jacob with a chuckle.

"Don't you dare laugh."

"Listen, don't make any notices to put around the city." Jacob said after a short silence. You may have realized Jacob's perspective by now. He had the best chance he was ever going to have to convince Jake to become a pokémon trainer and he wasn't going to pass it up that easily.

"Why not?" asked Jake with a frown.

"Because, uh… I… I want to see your Charmander first." It was a pretty lame excuse, but it was all Jacob was able to come up with in such a hurry.

"It's not mine." said Jake, sounding a little angry.

"Yeah, sure, sorry. Just wait until I get back." said Jacob, hoping to convince him.

"Fine." said Jake with an annoyed sigh, even though he didn't like the idea of waiting any longer before beginning to look for Charmander's owner.

"I was just on my way out from Pallet Town so I'll try to get back to Pewter City as soon as I can."

"Don't stop on the way for something stupid like a pokémon battle please."

Jacob chuckled, "I'll do my best. In the meantime why don't you try bonding with it or something?" Jake made no reply and Jacob knew how much his friend felt like hitting him or throwing something heavy in his direction for what he had just said. "Just try not to throw it or yourself out of the window before I get there."

"Just hurry. Please." Jake sighed and hung up the phone, looking at Charmander as if he had forgotten the way he had openly spoken to her just a few minutes ago. "We are going to get you some food in order to try to prevent you from devouring everything that I own, which isn't much to begin with anyways." He hadn't really forgotten the 'conversation' he had had with the pokémon just before. Actually, it was the fact that he had spoken to Charmander so freely that bothered him so much. "On the way there you will not talk to me or touch me, understood?"

Charmander would have attempted otherwise like before, but something about Jake's expression seemed to deter her. Unlike on the way back from the pokémon center, he seemed quite serious. The pokémon silently nodded her little head and they left the apartment.

"This thing has the appetite of an actual dinosaur…" thought Jake to himself sometime later as he watched Charmander eat, having placed down a plate with some food in the corner of the living room, "How much exactly can you eat?" he asked all of a sudden, trying to remember when was the last time _he_ had eaten that much. It was even stranger when considering how small Charmander actually was. It was a possibility that the little pokémon hadn't eaten anything since before Jake brought her to the pokémon center. Charmander looked up at him without making a sound.

Jake couldn't help but become curious about how she ended up in the forest and in such a horrible condition to begin with. Up until that moment he hadn't really thought about it. "How did you end up there? In the forest, that is?" The whole idea of it being abandoned by her trainer and in such a bad condition seemed very unlikely and Jake knew more than well that there was a chance that this pokémon didn't even have a trainer. "I'll find your trainer even if it's the last thing I do." Even though Charmander was quite obedient he still didn't trust her one bit, no matter how cute she was.

"Don't take this personally." he added with a sigh after a short moment of silence before walking over to the TV and picking up the picture that was on it. After looking at it for a while he placed it back down on the TV without saying another word before lying down on the sofa. The lack of sleep from the previous night eventually got the better of him and he fell asleep almost immediately.


	4. Losing It

**A/N: To coldblue (guest): It's not that I don't want to answer your questions. I really do. It's just that they made PMs on this website for stuff like that. All you have to do is click the 'Sign up' button at the top-right corner of the website if I'm not mistaken. Although I'm pretty sure that all of your questions will get an answer sooner or later in future chapters.**

When Jake woke up again it was probably already sometime into the evening. At least that was what he was able to conclude from the amount of light he saw in his room when he opened his eyes. After a short moment of lying completely still on the couch he checked his hand watch and confirmed that it was indeed already evening. Yawning and stretching his arms, he decided to just wait there until Jacob came back to finally help Jake with the pokémon he was stuck with. Jake didn't really have anybody else to turn to for assistance in this matter, plus he always saw Jacob as an expert on pokémon matters.

Well, perhaps the word 'expert' isn't a correct one. Jacob had no experience as a trainer, having only received his started pokémon on that very morning, but Jake knew how much his friend has been studying about pokémon in the past few weeks. So yeah, you can't compare Jacob to Professor Oak, but Jake had no doubt that his friend would know what to do. Besides it's not like Jake was an expert himself. In fact his knowledge about pokémon was so little that everyone could be considered an expert compared to him.

"I see you've slept well!" Only then did Jake notice the fact that Jacob was standing right next to the couch with a big smile on his face.

Jake looked up at him with an annoyed expression. "How did you even get in here?"

"The door was unlocked." said Jacob, making Jake remember how he had kept his door unlocked as a precaution.

Jake was about to ask another question when he noticed the hat his friend was now wearing. It had the picture of a pokéball printed on it. "What's with the hat?"

"The professor gave it to me." said Jacob with a smile, "Do you like it?"

"No."

"I think it's cool…" said Jacob quietly, looking a little disappointed at his friend's answer.

"How long have you been here?" It actually didn't matter to Jake how long Jacob has been there already. The only thing important to Jake was that he was there. Still, he was curious.

"For a while." said Jacob, grinning at his friend.

"Why didn't you wake me up then?" asked Jake, a little impatiently. "And what are you so smug about?"

Jacob's grin only became wider. "Oh, I just didn't want to interrupt… You two looked so peaceful."

"Trust me; I want to get this thing over with more than I want to sleep. Plus I-" Jake suddenly stopped talking. He gave his friend a questioning look. "You two?" he asked, quoting Jacob.

Jacob continued to smile. "Yep." Jake could suddenly feel something stir on his stomach. His eyes widened. He looked and saw that Charmander was peacefully sleeping there. She must have climbed onto him once he had fallen asleep. Jacob chuckled, "I admit; I never expected you to bond _that_ quickly."

Jake continued to stare at the sleeping pokémon, feeling his heart begin to beat faster and faster. "Get it off me." He said all of a sudden, looking at Jacob with a desperate expression.

"Aww, but you look so cute together!" answered Jacob with what he thought was a good impression of a 5-year-old girl as he tried not to laugh.

"Get. It. Off." pleaded Jake as he once again looked at the sleeping pokémon. This time Jacob listened. "Why did you let it stay there?" asked Jake with obvious annoyance as he immediately sat up.

"Because-" Jacob stopped when he saw Jake examining his shirt and jacket. "What are you doing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm checking to see whether its tail burned me or anything, duh!" said Jake with a frown as he continued checking.

Jacob sighed. "Jake, fire pokémon like Charmander can control their flame. I'm pretty sure Charmander didn't accidentally give you a burn." He let out another sigh as Jake ignored his comment and actually took off his jacket in order to get a better look at it.

"Good." said Jake after a short while. "Because this is my favorite jacket. Well, it's my only jacket."

Jacob was about to say something when Charmander began to stir in his arms. The little pokémon opened its eyes and looked at him sleepily, causing him to smile. "Aww, aren't you just the cutest thing?" Jake rolled his eyes.

"What exactly is cute about it?" he asked as Charmander yawned in the most adorable manner. "Is it the claws, the sharp teeth or the fact that its tail is on fire?"

"Oh come on Jake!" said Jacob, chuckling as the little pokémon's eyes suddenly locked onto his friend. "Just look at it! Isn't this just the cutest face you've ever seen?"

"Cut it out Jacob, I'm not in the mood." said Jake with a sigh as he put his jacket back on.

"_Charmander! Char!_" the little pokémon exclaimed, looking rather happy.

"Yes, you're a Charmander. Everyone knows it." said Jake as he rolled his eyes once more.

"_Char!_" Once again the little pokémon reached towards Jake with its tiny arms, causing him to sigh in annoyance.

"Ugh, not again…"

"I think it really likes you." said Jacob with a jolly expression.

"Unfortunately…"

"_Char!_" exclaimed Charmander as she began squirming restlessly in Jacob's arms.

"I think it wants to go to you."

"You don't say." said Jake sarcastically. Jacob took one step in Jake's direction with the intention of giving Charmander to him but Jake motioned for him to stop with a wave of his hand. "No. Don't even come near me with that thing."

Charmander continued squirming and even began whining so Jacob, who was starting to feel bad for restricting the pokémon, decided to put her down. Jake couldn't help but facepalm as Charmander went over to him and snuggled against his leg. "I can't explain why," said Jacob, "but he's taken quite a liking to you."

"She." said Jake with a sigh as he impatiently waited for Charmander to let go so that he could move away from her. "It's a female."

"Really?" asked Jacob, looking surprised.

"Yes, really."

"Did you know that the gender ratio for this pokémon is about 7 males to 1 female? It's why they're rather rare because it's the mother's specie which determines the specie of the offspring."

"That's very interesting." said Jake sarcastically. "Tomorrow morning I'm going to the library to photocopy posters in order to look for whoever this pokémon belongs to."

"Listen, Jake, I think that you should take some times to think about this first."

"If you want to help me hang the posters around the city then I'll be more than happy." Jacob was about to say something but Jake cut him short. "Don't try to convince me to keep this thing. I know that this is why you asked me to wait for you to get back while we were talking on the phone earlier today." Jacob realized that Jake wasn't in the mood and decided to stop trying to convince him for the time being. Instead he opened his bag and took out a pokéball from it. "What is this?" asked Jake, raising an eyebrow.

"This is a pokéball. That's where people carry their pokémon."

"So you're telling me trainers only let out their pokémon to battle and train?" He rolled his eyes. "This is yet another stupid thing about the whole idea of pokémon training. That doesn't sound like a very good life to me."

Jacob smiled, "See? Deep inside you actually do care. Actually I think most trainers let their pokémon out quite often. The only reason I kept mine in its ball until now was because you asked me to hurry back here on my bike."

"No, don't-" Jake started, but let out an annoyed sigh when Jacob ignored him and dropped the pokéball on the floor.

"Jake, this is Bulbasaur." he said with a smile.

"_Bulbasaur!_"

"It looks like a plant." Jake said with a raised eyebrow. "And it sounds like a kid who smokes."

"It's a grass-type pokémon, so yeah." said Jacob, ignoring Jake's other comment. "I've paid a lot of thought to which pokémon I was going to pick and eventually I-"

"Yeah yeah, a life changing decision, bla bla bla." said Jake with a sigh, cutting him short. "Why did you let it out?"

"I've been waiting all day to show him to you. Plus you yourself said that you think that a trainer shouldn't keep his pokémon in their pokéball all the time."

"Yeah, I said that…" said Jake, looking even more uncomfortable now that there were two pokémon in the room, "But why did you let it out _here_?"

"Lighten up, Bulbasaur won't do anything horrible to you in your sleep. Neither will Charmander, by the way, or any other pokémon." He smiled and picked up his pokémon who smiled back at him.

"Don't start making out with it or something." said Jake with an annoyed sigh as he sat down on the couch, frowning as Charmander went ahead and sat down on the couch next to him, looking at him with its enormous eyes as she did.

"Hey, why don't we have a practice battle?" asked Jacob after a short silence with what had to be the most annoying smile on his face. There was just something maddening about it, as if he didn't know that the last thing Jake wanted to do was to have a pokémon battle.

"…" Jake said nothing for a rather long moment and simply hit his friend with a deadly stare. "Seriously?"

"Sure, why not?"

Jake sighed. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

"Do you, uh… Live on this planet? Is your brain functioning?"

"I believe that the answer to both of your questions is 'yes'."

"Then why in the world would you ask _me_ to have a stupid pokémon battle? You might as well just ask me to jump off a building." Jacob grinned, causing Jake to frown. "What now?"

"Come on Jake, don't lie." said Jacob in a rather annoying manner.

"What are you talking about?"

"You and I both know that you're tempted to see what Charmander can do."

"…" Jake frowned.

"Come on, you know you want to."

"_Char!_"

Jake stood up. "There is no way that I want to have a pokémon battle. Because I can't want to have a stupid battle. Jacob, if I want to act as a trainer to this pokémon," he pointed at Charmander, "shoot me."

"POW!" exclaimed Jaocb as he pointed a finger gun at his friend.

"…" Jacob couldn't help but start laughing.

An entire week went by. On the morning following Jacob's return from Pallet Town Jake went ahead and executed his plans to hang posters regarding the Charmander he had found. He waited the first day after having scattered the posters very patiently, knowing that it was going to take some time. During the second day he was also patient but still had a slight hope that somebody would show up to claim the pokémon. The third day was spent with him sitting on the couch and simply staring at his apartment's door, waiting for somebody to knock. Nobody showed up.

Jake was sitting in his living room and staring at the wall, his eye or leg twitching randomly every now and then. It's been a week since he had found Charmander. It's been an entire week which had been spent in the company of a pokémon. It was driving him crazy. He felt like he was losing his mind. He hated having to look at Charmander, he hated knowing that she was there even when he wasn't looks at her and more than anything he hated the fact that she just kept growing more and more attached to him.

No matter how much he told her to leave him alone, no matter how many times he simply stared at her and told her he wanted her gone she just kept smiling at him and exclaiming her name in her squeaky voice.

Jake's attention was caught by the pokémon as she started chasing her own tail in circles. "Stop it." He said with a frown, feeling what had to be the beginning of a very powerful headache. Charmander stopped and looked at him for a moment before going off to examine the TV out of curiosity. "No, don't touch that." He couldn't help but sigh as Charmander looked at him again, though without stopping, and accidentally bumped into the TV, causing the picture that was on it to fall off and land next to the little pokémon's legs.

"Stop right where you are." said Jake with a frown as he realized that the picture had fallen. "Just come over here and sit on the couch so that you don't end up doing anything to it."

Charmander blinked a few times and then turned to face Jake with the intention of walking over to him. Completely by accident her tail ended up coming in contact the picture, setting it on fire. "What are you doing?!" he asked, jumping to his feet and running to the kitchen. He returned with a glass of water and poured it over the small fire, putting it out. After a short moment of simply standing there in shock he hurried to check what the damage was while Charmander hid behind the couch. The picture was completely ruined.

"You!" he glared at the pokémon, who stared at him for a mere second before letting out a small whimper and hiding behind the couch again. "You took the one thing that I have left and…" He rose to his feet, his face filled with rage. This was the last straw. "You… You good for nothing, uh… THING! You worthless piece of-"

The door opened. "Hey Jake, how's it-" Jacob stopped at the door as he saw his friend chase the little pokémon around the room. "What are you doing?!" he asked in horror as Charmander ran over to him and hid behind his legs. Whenever Jake was angry with the pokémon before she never looked _that_ scared, so Jacob was able to tell that this time Jake had officially lost it.

"Take that _monster_! I don't care who it belongs to! Just take it!" shouted Jake, realizing that he might end up doing something he'll regret otherwise. "Keep it, train it, eat it, send it into outer space, I don't care! I've had it!"

"What in the world is wrong with you?!" asked Jacob in shock as he picked up Charmander, trying to comfort the little fire-type pokémon as he did. "Were you going to _hit_ it?"

"I can't take this anymore! I'm so sick of this thing that I might have ended up kicking it if it weren't for you!" He never considered hurting a living being, even if that living being was a pokémon. He sat down on the couch and brought both of his hands to his forehead, trying to calm himself down. After a few moments he looked in the direction of the door and saw that Jacob was still standing there. "Why is that thing still here?"

"Don't you think you're overreacting?!" asked Jacob with a frown as he looked at what was left of the picture. Jake sighed in annoyance and looked away, wishing deep in his heart that Jacob would leave and take Charmander with him. "You know what Jake? I'm sick of this too." Jake looked at him again. "What kind of a person even comes close to doing something like this? I never thought you were a bad person, but apparently I don't really know you."

"You don't even know what you're talking about."

"Then tell me!" Charmander let out another whimper. "Stop avoiding me every time I try to figure out what's the problem and just talk to me!" Jake said nothing and Jacob forced himself to talk more calmly. "People don't just hurt living creatures Jake." He said with a sigh. "Tell me."

Jake was silent for a very long time. Eventually he stood up and walked over to the window, looking out into the street. "How long have we known each other Jacob?" he asked after yet another long silence, looking at Jacob in the corner of his eye.

Jacob, realizing that Jake had relaxed, slowly placed Charmander down. "I don't get it." he asked, "What does that have to do with it?"

"How long have we known each other?" Jake asked once more, repeating his exact words from a few seconds ago.

"6 years. We met when my father and I moved here 6 years ago."

Jake again said nothing for a long moment. He let out a sigh. "Didn't you ever wonder what an 11-years-old boy was doing living all by himself in a crappy inn and working in a bad restaurant for a living instead of going to school?"

"Of course I did. You never told me."

Jake smiled sadly, realizing Jacob was right. He looked at what was left of the picture and Jacob did the same. "That picture was of my parents, my 7-years-old sister and me when I was 10 years old." Jacob said nothing, waiting for Jake to continue. "It happened 7 years ago. The four of us were down at the grocery store when some members of Team Rocket decided to rob the place. My father had a pokémon of his own, but because he had me and my sister to take care of he didn't have the time to become a serious trainer… I don't know what went through his mind, but I guess he thought he could stop them…" He stared at the floor and said nothing else.

Jacob said nothing for a few moments before finally putting the pieces together. He stared at his friend for a few moments, not knowing what to say. "Jake, I… I'm so sorry, I had no idea…"

"My dad's pokémon, it…" he sighed, "I don't even remember what pokémon it was, but… When my dad sent it out to try to scare off those Team Rocket members it just… It just took off..."

Jacob became confused. "What?"

"It took off." said Jake, repeating himself. "It ran away. It just left us there." He stopped and let out a sigh. "By the time the Gym Leader and the rest of the Gym trainers got there it was too late." Again he paused. "And in the end it turned out that the bastard in charge of Team Rocket was actually the Gym Leader in Viridian City!"

"Well… There's a different Gym Leader in Viridian now…" It wasn't the best thing Jacob could say, but the truth was that he didn't really know what to say.

"What does it matter?" asked Jake with a sigh. "Ever since my dad's pokémon just abandoned him like that and ever since I saw how pokémon are used for evil purposes I… I just… I can't trust them. I just can't."

"Oh, Jake, come on…" said Jacob, hoping he could get his friend to understand that not all Pokémon are unreliable. Although he had to admit, now that he knew the truth, he doubted Jake would ever listen to him. "Not all pokémon are like that…" He went ahead and picked up Charmander before slowly walking towards the couch. "You have to at least try. A pokémon is like man's best friend!" Charmander meanwhile began to squirm restlessly in Jacob's arms. While she calmed down as soon as Jake stopped chasing her, she could tell that what Jacob was doing was not a good idea. After all she did hear the conversation that just took place between the two.

Jake kept his eyes fixed on the pokémon as Jacob slowly came over. "A dog." he said all of a sudden.

"What?" asked Jacob while raising an eyebrow.

"Man's best friend is the dog. That's how the original expression goes." He got up with a sigh and walked towards his bedroom. "Why can't people just be normal and have a dog?" He entered the bedroom without saying another word and closed the door behind him.


	5. Taking Another Walk

At first Jacob considered following Jake into his bedroom and trying to convince him that his (Jake's) opinion about pokémon was merely a misconception but he decided not to. Obviously the best thing he could do at the moment was to give Jake some space before trying to approach him again, even though Jacob was starting to doubt that Jake would ever trust a pokémon now that he knew what had happened 7 years ago. So, after standing in Jake's living room for a couple of minutes, he walked towards the door before stopping all of a sudden and looking at Charmander. The little pokémon was still staring at the door Jake had just closed himself behind. Jacob always found it incredible how pokémon didn't have the ability to talk and yet they could understand the human language regardless of that.

"Perhaps Jake could use some time away from you." he said quietly, not wanting to disturb his friend too much. "Maybe you should just come with me for the time being, at least until he calms down?" Charmander, much to Jacob's surprise, looked at him and then shook her head in refusal. "Really, are you sure you're okay with that?" Charmander nodded. He was slightly surprised at the fact that Charmander wanted to stay there. While he himself knew that Jake would never really hurt the pokémon, he didn't expect Charmander to look so confident about the idea of staying. "Well, I guess I can't force you then." It's not like Jacob was Charmander's trainer, and even if he was he still believed that a trainer should also consider what his pokémon wanted.

Jake woke up the following morning with the same feeling of melancholy that had been accompanying him in the last 24 hours. He never expected himself to ever tell Jacob what has happened all these years ago but he ended up doing it anyway. While doing so did make it feel like a great load has been lifted it also brought back a lot of bad memories. After a short while of motionlessly lying on his mattress his eyes fell on the calendar hanging from the wall and he seemed to tense up. "Oh, it's that day of the year again?" he asked himself bitterly before getting up and walking into the bathroom, not coming out of it until he had made sure that he was clean shaven and that his hair wasn't messy.

He then went into the kitchen and began to hastily prepare some breakfast and once he finished eating his eyes fell on Charmander. The little pokémon was standing on the couch which made her high enough and thus allowed her to look out the window. Becoming curious, he slowly walked over and tried to follow her gaze. After a few moments he realized that she was staring at the Viridian Forest and he sighed, catching her attention. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday, I kind of overdid the whole part of losing it." he said as she stared up at him and blinked. "Let's call it a truce for now, okay?"

"_Char?_"

Jake went back into his bedroom for a moment before coming back into the living room and heading towards the door. He stopped in front of it before turning around and looking at Charmander who was still standing on the couch and staring at him with her large eyes. "Well, do you want to stay here on your own all day or do you want to tag along?" This seemed to somehow catch Charmander off guard but she went ahead and walked over to him. After they had left the apartment Jake locked the door behind them.

The two walked through the city streets in silence. Well, the streets were rather loud because of all the people, but between the two the atmosphere remained absolutely quiet. This time Charmander made sure not to wonder off anywhere like it had last time, but unlike her Jake seemed to be looking around restlessly for something. After some time he found it, a plain flower stand. "What can I get you?" asked the lady at the stand with a smile. "I presume you want something for your girlfriend?"

"No, this is for a different occasion." replied Jake with a friendly expression. He then looked at the stand for a few more moments before letting out a sigh. "Can I have two of these nosegays and…" he thought for a moment, "and one of these roses?" He then paid for the flowers, thanked the lady for them and walked off in another direction. Charmander silently followed.

They walked on and on, and just when Charmander thought that her little legs couldn't keep up any longer Jake came to a stop. "Do you know where we are?" he asked, not even looking down at the pokémon and keeping his gaze fixed on the gate they were standing in front of. Charmander looked ahead but she did not seem to understand what Jake was talking about. After a few moments Jake carried on walking and Charmander followed him, leaving the gate that said "Pewter City's Cemetery" behind.

The two walked in complete silence. There was not a single sound other than the noise caused by their walking. Graveyards are always quiet. I doubt you've ever paid attention to that but it's true. You don't hear any birds singing. In the summer I've been in Europe. It wasn't exactly a vacation though. I went to a certain country with an expedition from school and we've been to certain locations there. It was so quiet there that I remember these horrible places everytime there isn't any noise around me. It may have all happened a long time ago, but nature doesn't seem to forget; there are trees and grass but the places are as silent as a graveyard. Whenever it rained I felt like the sky was crying. But I'm getting off topic here. Whether you understood what I'm talking about or not doesn't matter.

"This is a cemetery." said Jake after a few moments of walking silently. "When people pass away they are buried in a cemetery." He looked at Charmander in the corner of his eye as they walked. "Do you pokémon do something similar when another pokémon dies?"

"_Char?_"

"Right." They stopped in front of a row of graves. "This is it." The three specific graves Jake was looking at were at the end of the row. The third one was significantly smaller than the other two. Jake placed the two nosegays he had purchased earlier on the first two graves and the rose on the smaller one.

Again there was silence. At some point Charmander's curiosity got the better of her and she tried getting onto one of the tombstones in order to get a better look (considering the fact that she wasn't very tall). Jake however hurried to stop her. "No, don't do that." he said calmly, "You don't stand on a tombstone, it's disrespectful." There was a short silence. "Here, let me." Jake went ahead and picked Charmander up in his arms, providing her with a better view. "This one's my mother's," he pointed at the one to the right, "this one's my father's and this one's my sister's." Charmander looked, but made no reply.

"I can't believe it's been seven years." He said after another short silence as he brought one of his hands to his forehead and let out a sigh. After a few more moments he gently placed Charmander back down. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and took out the same ocarina which his sister was holding in the picture Charmander had accidentally burned. "This was hers. I bought it for her with my pocket money when I was 9 and she was 6. Then I used to show her how to play it." He smiled a weak smile for a moment before letting out another sigh.

He and Charmander turned around at the exact same moment as they both heard somebody come to a stop behind them. "I had a feeling I'd find you here."

"Brock?" asked Jake, surprised to see the Gym Leader there. "What are you doing here?" He never thought Brock remembered the date. "Do you seriously remember?"

"Of course I do." said the Gym Leader with a sigh. "How can I forget the day where things wouldn't have ended in such a horrible way if I had gotten there faster?" Brock, being a few years older than Jake, was already acting as Pewter City's Gym Leader by the time it all happened. "You may not know this but I also come here every year. I make sure to come after you leave so to avoid upsetting you. Then I just stand here and think about how everything would look like had I made it in time."

"You're talking as if it all happened because of you." said Jake as he stared at the ground.

"I know what you mean, but as someone who has the responsibility over this city… I just can't help but feel slightly guilty every time I come here."

"Listen, Brock, I'm not holding any grudge against you or anybody else other than Team Rocket if that's what you're thinking."

"I know, I just thought I'd check up on you to see how you're doing."

"The more time passes the more everything stays the same." said Jake with a sigh. "I'm still stuck in that terrible inn and my life is still not going anywhere."

"I see you still have that Charmander with you." said Brock, looking down at the little pokémon.

"You saw the notices I put around, didn't you?"

"Yeah, you put them pretty much everywhere." There was a short silence. "You know, if it helps, I can always check whether its trainer is in another city. Sometimes people who lose their pokémon come looking for them in the Gym. I can give the Gym Leader in Viridian a call. **(A/N: Because Viridian is the only other city next to the Viridian Forest. Think of the map like it is in the games, only with cities that have the size of an actual city like I mentioned before)**

"I appreciate it, but that won't be necessary." said Jake as he looked down at Charmander. "This pokémon never had a trainer to begin with."

"How can you be so certain?" asked the rock-type specialist, obviously confused. It was true that, according to logic, Charmander's trainer should have showed up by now, seeing that it has been more than a week, but that didn't necessarily mean that the pokémon didn't have a trainer.

"I never asked her whether she has had a trainer or not." Now that he was thinking about it he should have done just that with the hope of having Charmander respond either by nodding her head or shaking it. "But I can tell. It's not because of how unlikely it seems that a trainer would leave his pokémon in such a bad condition if that's what you're thinking. I don't know how to explain it."

"Well…" said Brock, not knowing what to say. He knew Jake well enough in order to understand that Jake would be quite uncomfortable because of the realization that he and Charmander were stuck with each other. "In that case then… I guess you can always stop at the Gym if you need any help or advice. I'll be happy to help." He couldn't help but smile as he saw Charmander begin to play with Jake's shoelaces.

"I think I won't have a problem with that… My friend Jacob's almost like an encyclopedia when it comes to things like this."

Brock couldn't help but chuckle. "I heard he just got his first pokémon. I don't know if he's planning to stay here until he earns the Boulder Badge before setting off on his journey but he better not hope for any special treatment!"

Jake fell silent. It never occurred to him, now that Jacob had his own pokémon that he was going to start a pokémon journey. Yes, Jacob was still in Pewter City but now that Jake was thinking about it he knew more than well that, at some point, Jacob was going to leave. Just thinking about it made him depressed. During the past 7 years he had pretty much nobody but Jacob, and the thought of him leaving made him even more upset than he already was.

"I really appreciate the fact that you come here every year like I do. Can you promise me something Brock?" asked Jake after a short silence.

"What is it?"

"You probably don't know who Brad is, but Jacob told me that he chose that turtle-like water pokémon."

"Squirtle?"

"Whatever. Anyways, when he comes to your gym, I want you to give him a hard time. If you can make him end up in a lunatic asylum I'll appreciate it very much."

"I take it you don't like him very much, whoever he is." said Brock with a chuckle. He knew that if Jake disliked anybody there was usually a very good reason for it.

"Make him cry." said Jake with a snicker.

After saying goodbye to Brock Jake left the cemetery (with Charmander of course). "Will you come for a walk through the forest with me?" asked Jake as they walked, his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "If you don't want to be there I'll understand." **(A/N: Wait for it, I'll explain later.)** "I can always take you back to the inn before I go."

He looked down at the pokémon, who appeared to be thinking which option she liked best. Eventually she looked up at him with a smile. "_Charmander!_"

They walked on and eventually entered the forest. By the time they went in it was already starting to get dark. As time went by Jake could see that Charmander was becoming slightly restless. "We can always leave if you want to." he said, but Charmander shook her head in refusal. "Alright then. Just so you know; we're most likely not going to run into any pokémon at this time of the day. If we do, I heard you can spit fire."

"I wish you could tell me exactly what has happened." he said after a long silence, looking at Charmander in the corner of his eye. "You know, kind of like I ended up doing yesterday. I never thought I'd do that but it actually made me feel better."

"_Char!_"

"Yeah, you probably wish you could talk to me right now." He fell silent for a moment. "I realized you don't have a trainer when I saw the way you stared at this forest through the window this morning. The look in your eyes seemed very familiar to me; it actually reminded me of myself." He came to a stop and kneeled in front of Charmander so that she wouldn't have to look up at him. For a moment he simply looked at her and said nothing. "Whatever it was that separated you from your mother, whether it was a wild pokémon or not… I can understand why you are so reluctant about this place." Nevertheless she agreed coming into the forest again now that she was with him.

"For a very long time after my parents and my sister were killed I never went to that shopping mart where it all happened. I always went to another one, regardless of the fact that it was farther away from where I lived. It took me maybe 4 years before I entered the place again." In the past 24 hours Jake realized that he and Charmander actually had a lot in common. "It looks like we can actually relate to each other." He smiled and reached his hand out in Charmander's direction. The pokémon happily came over.

"Don't ever tell Jacob I admitted this, but…" said Jake after a long moment of gently stroking the pokémon's little head, "You really do have the cutest face I've ever seen."

Jacob (not Jake) woke up the following morning at a rather early hour when the sound of somebody ringing the doorbell reached his ears. He remained in his bed, thinking that his father was probably already awake and that he would answer it. His father had the habit of waking up before his son did even if he didn't have to go to work. The ringing however continued.

"_Bulbasaur!_" exclaimed Jacob's pokémon after becoming annoyed at the noise. He jumped onto Jacob's bed and began licking his trainer's face.

"Alright, cut it out!" said Jacob with a chuckle as he sat up, yawning as he did. "Who could it be at such an hour?" he asked with a frown as the doorbell emitted its sound once more. "I swear, if it's Brad and his friends playing some sort of a prank…" He looked at Bulbasaur. "You remember that annoying guy we battled 3 days ago, the one who didn't stop complaining after he lost?"

"_Bulbasaur!_"

"If it's him, will you spray him with some stun spore for me?"

"_Saur!_"

"Excellent." said Jacob with a smile as he left his bedroom and went to open the door with Bulbasaur following close behind. Jacob let out another yawn and then opened the door. "Jake?" he asked in surprise as he saw his friend standing at the doorway. What was even more confusing to him was the way Charmander was sitting on Jake's shoulders.

"Get your bag, your plant and your ugly hat. Oh, and put some actual clothes on."

It was only then that Jacob realized that he had gone to open the door in his underwear. His face turned red. "What are you talking about?" he asked, partially closing the door so to conceal himself, his face becoming even more red as he heard both Charmander and Bulbasaur snicker.

"We're going on a stupid pokémon journey."


	6. Leaving

"Alright, so other than this and that I should also pack… Wait a sec, this is all I have!" said Jake with a jolly expression as he finished looking around his small apartment. In his backpack he now had all of his clothes (not a lot), his sister's ocarina and all of the money he had put aside over the years. It was true that that restaurant didn't offer him a very high salary, but every month he made sure to put a small amount of money aside and save it. He would have taken the family photo with him too hadn't it been accidentally burned to ashes, but he wasn't angry about that anymore. In fact, he seemed as happy as ever. "I guess one good thing did come out of me wasting 7 years of my life and childhood in this place." he added with a chuckle, "I always hated the whole part of packing before going away when I was little."

All the while Jacob was standing there and staring at his friend with a raised eyebrow and a 'what the hell is going on here' expression. Never during the entire 7 years of him knowing Jake had he seen him look so delighted. The fact that what he was so excited about was setting off on a pokémon journey was what made the whole situation even more strange. Jacob tried to find a reasonable explanation for Jake's behavior but he could only think of 2. The first one was that he had been drinking, and the second one was that he had officially lost his mind and went crazy.

"I'm really glad I saved a small amount of my salary every month." said Jake as he began looking through his bag to double check whether he had accidentally forgotten anything. "I mean, I might have otherwise been able to live in a better inn and eat some actual food every now and then but it really paid off in the end." His eyes fell on Charmander, who was sitting on the floor in an adorable manner while playing with her tail. "You have to promise me that if we ever see a Beedrill you'll scare it away by spitting fire at it or something." he said with a smile, picking the little pokémon in his arms. "I hate Beedrills."

"_Char!_" Jake chuckled, gave the pokémon a hug and then placed her on his shoulders. She seemed to be quite fond of sitting there.

Jacob was starting to feel like he was the one about to become crazy because of how unnatural the situation seemed. "Uh, Jake?" he asked, the confusion more than noticeable in his voice.

"Yeah?"

"Is everything, um… alright?"

"Sure! What makes you think anything's wrong?" Now just try to imagine the scene from Jacob's perspective for a sec. He heard this while standing in front of Jake who had just allowed a pokémon to sit on his shoulders while smiling like a little boy who had just been given a piece of candy. As the icing on the cake, less than an hour ago Jake came to his house and said that he wants to go on a pokémon adventure.

"Well… First you said you want to go on a pokémon journey and now you're smiling while Charmander's sitting on your shoulders." There was a short silence. "Did I miss anything?"

"I had a sappy moment of enlightenment."

"No, seriously… You're starting to freak me out."

"I am 100% serious. I want to go."

As much as Jacob still had a hard time believing, he could tell by Jake's tone that he was serious. He stared at his friend for a few moments before becoming as excited as he should have became the moment Jake told him that he wanted to go on a pokémon journey. After all, since the moment where Jake had found Charmander Jacob made it his goal to convince Jake to become a trainer, and while he didn't really end up convincing Jake he still considered it as accomplished. "Alright then! This will be so great, I can already tell! But… I think I'll be staying here until I earn the city's badge."

Jake simply stared at Jacob for a few seconds without saying a word. "No."

"What?"

"I need to get out of this city. I've been stuck here for too long, it's time to move on."

"Well, that makes sense and all, but… I think it will also make sense to earn the Boulder Badge first…"

"Can't you earn it another time?" asked Jake, knowing that he was being a little irrational but at the same time feeling like he needed to get out of Pewter City as soon as possible. "Please? Besides, think for a second, if we travel between cities you'll get to meet some trainers who have the same goal as you. Some of them will probably have gym badges already. Don't you think you should face some actual trainers before challenging a Gym Leader? I mean come on, Brad doesn't count."

Jacob thought for a moment. "Well, that is true…" Jake did make a lot of sense. Jacob wasn't expecting to be able to beat a Gym Leader within a day, and he also knew that he was probably going to lose his first battle against one, but it will feel good to be actually able to hold his own in his first gym battle. "Alright." he said after a short moment of thinking with a smile.

"Great. Now give me my pokégear."

"Your… pokégear?" asked Jacob, looking embarrassed. "What… I don't know what you're talking about."

Jake raised an eyebrow, "Give me a break. The minute you heard I found Charmander you literally made it your life's goal to convince me to go with you. You have an extra pokégear with you which you were planning to give me at some point. Hand it over."

Jacob rubbed the back of his head nervously with one of his hands before letting out a sigh of defeat. "Fine, you got me." Sometimes Jake could read Jacob like an open book and that often resulted in awkward situations. "Instead of pokégears though, my father went ahead and got us both Xtransceivers."

"What's an Xtransceiver?"

"It functions like a phone like a pokégear." explained Jacob, showing Jake the blue Xtransceiver that was on his arm. "The time is displayed on this screen. When you call somebody or they call you, you'll see them instead of the time if they also have an Xtransceiver. On top of the screen is a small camera, which is how they'll see you. This device can also save the numbers of other people."

"So it's a phone in the form of a hand watch?" asked Jake, looking at the watch-like phone his friend had.

"Eeyup. They're made in the Unova region. Pretty neat huh?" asked Jacob as he opened his bag and got out a green colored Xtransceiver which he handed over to Jake. "Here, this one's yours."

"Cool, thanks." said Jake as he replaced his hand watch with the Xtransceiver Jacob had just given him. "So do I need to-"

"I already registered myself in there." said Jacob sheepishly.

"Of course you did." He placed his old hand watch in his bag, deciding to think about what to do with it later. "So are we all set?" From his tone Jacob could tell that Jake was quite eager to leave Pewter City behind, at least for a while.

"There are some supplies we should pack for when we'll be traveling to the next city." explained Jacob.

"Oh right, of course…" With all the excitement about leaving Pewter City he almost forgot about basic supplies like food and water. "We should probably go buy some food and water." He smiled and looked at Charmander, "At least we won't need any matches."

"After taking care of that I want to stop at a pokémart. There are a few things we should get from there before leaving."

"Which city are we going to then?" asked Jake as he walked towards the door.

"I was thinking about going to Cerulean City first."

"Isn't there this large cave on the way there?" asked Jake as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." said Jacob with a chuckle. "Why? Are you scared?"

"I'll admit I'm not too eager about walking into a cave filled with wild pokémon," said Jake, "but anything's better than going through a forest filled with Beedrills."

Jake later found himself staring at shelves with products he could not identify. "Can you please tell me why we're here again?" he asked, looking at his friend who was busy examining every single thing in the pokémart they were both in.

"We're here to get some pokémon food and healing items." explained Jacob. "After all there are pokémon centers only inside cities, so we want to be prepared."

Jake, who knew pretty much nothing about pokémon, couldn't help but become curious about everything and even slightly embarrassed at how little his knowledge was. "Like what?" Still, if he was going to leave Pewter City, he was going to need to know the basics.

"Potions and status healers." said Jacob as he handed Jake a few of the items in question. **(A/N: Like in the games and the anime, you can say that they look like small spray bottles)** "Here, put them in your bag after we pay for them. Oh, and don't forget," he brought a few pokéballs and handed them to him as well, "that's what you use to capture wild pokémon."

"I know that last part about the pokéballs Jacob, I'm not that stupid." said Jake as he looked at the tiny spray bottles he was holding. "Which one's what?"

"The purple colored bottles are the potions and the yellow ones are the full heals. You use the full heals to cure any status problem."

"What status problems?" asked Jake, and he immediately regretted asking when Jacob began listing all the status problems he knew about.

"Poisoning, sleep, paralysis, freezing and burning."

"That sounds dangerous!" Now that he was thinking about it perhaps staying in the city where there were no wild pokémon was a better idea. Because let's face it, the possibility of having Charmander become poisoned or frozen wasn't a very pleasant thought.

"There's no need to worry, that's why we're taking items like these with us."

"What if we run out of items?"

"Jake, would you relax?" asked Jacob with a chuckle. "Everything will be fine. We have our pokémon with us and more than enough items to keep them healthy."

Jake said nothing else and the two headed to the counter. He still had a slightly hard time believing that this was happening. As unrealistic as it all seemed, he really was about to go on a pokémon journey. It was one of the few things he always thought he would never do. Regardless of that, he felt good about his decision to give this whole pokémon thing a chance. Up until then he tried ignoring the fact that not all pokémon were bad like the ones used by criminal organizations like Team Rocket because he just couldn't get over the events that resulted in the loss of his parents and sister. But now he could tell that the first thing he needed to do in order to really be able to leave it all behind was to rebuild his broken trust in pokémon.

"Okay, so is there anything else or shall we be on our way?" he asked after he and Jacob had paid for the pokéballs and healing items and left the pokémart.

"I think we're all set." Jacob said and then looked at his friend with a grin.

"What?" Jake asked upon noticing his friend's smug expression, raising an eyebrow as he did. After a short moment of silence he realized what his friend had in mind. "Really? Right now?"

"Sure, let's have a battle!" said Jacob excitedly.

"We haven't even left the city and you're already thinking about a pokémon battle?"

"Trust me; it's more fun than it sounds!" Jake didn't seem very convinced, but Jacob knew him well enough in order to think of a way to make him come around. "Besides, don't you think you need to get the hang of this? After all you do want to know how to be able to prevent wild pokémon from poisoning or paralyzing or freezing or burning you and Charmander, right?"

Jake became immediately convinced upon hearing the whole part of avoiding having to use any of the status healers they had bought a few minutes ago. "Alright, let's do this." Jacob couldn't help but chuckle at his success.

The two left Pewter City (seeing how bad of an idea it is to have a pokémon battle in the middle of a street). "So…" said Jake slowly as they stood facing each other, "How is this supposed to go?"

"A pokémon stays in a battle until it's too weak to carry on. Simple, isn't it?" Jacob went ahead and took out his Bulbasaur's pokéball.

Jake looked at the pokéball in Jacob's hand and couldn't help but ask a question which he had come up with earlier. "How come a ball that is able to capture and hold living creatures at the subatomic level costs less than my rent?" **(A/N: Seriously! Haven't you ever thought about that?)**

"Would you stop looking for sense in everything?" asked Jacob with obvious annoyance. Let me tell you something; if you look for logic or sanity in everything that exists in this world (our world) you will end up losing your own sanity. Many things seem illogical and many things aren't as they should be.

"Fine." said Jake with a sigh of defeat, even though his expression did suggest that he still wanted to know the answer.

Jacob then returned to his excited mood from just a few seconds ago. "You just became a trainer Jake, I'm not going to lose!"

"You just became a trainer too." said Jake bluntly, raising an eyebrow.

Jacob face palmed. "Come on Jake, can't you let me enjoy this?"

"Ugh, fine…" he said with a sigh.

**(A/N: Here's another thing you should know about me: I'm a soundtrack-maniac. My iPod is 99.9% soundtracks from movies / games / TV shows. I was planning before I even began writing this story to put a link to a soundtrack from the game whenever I think it fits the situation like a gym battle for example [big hint there]. However in one of the reviews I got on the last chapter I found out that you're not allowed to put links in your stories. THEREFORE! Whenever I think a certain piece of music from the games or even the anime fits the situation I'll just name it here and you can listen to it on YouTube. Well, you don't have to listen to it while reading, but you should at least take a moment to listen to it in order to remind yourselves of what it's like. At least that's my opinion. For this battle I've chosen the rival theme from Black & White. The silliness of it really fits the fact that Jake and Jacob are best friends. Enjoy!)**

"Go, Bulbasaur!" Jacob tossed the pokéball on the ground and the grass-type pokémon appeared. Jake was still feeling somewhat uncertain about this whole thing. What if Charmander accidentally gets fatally wounded? Jacob sighed. "There's nothing to worry about Jake. Battles always stop before something bad can happen and we have the potions we bought earlier."

Jake took Charmander from his shoulders and looked at her. To his surprise, she seemed like she wanted to take part in the battle. "Be careful and if you want to stop just let me know okay?" Jacob found himself staring with a raised eyebrow. It was very strange to look at Jake being so concerned about a pokémon's wellbeing. It felt unnatural. Perhaps Jake had been abducted by aliens? Getting used to Jake's new attitude towards pokémon was definitely going to take some time. Charmander smiled and nodded. "Alright… Have fun I guess." He went ahead and gently placed his pokémon on the ground, still looking a little reluctant.

"Okay Bulbasaur, let's start this off with some Razor Leaf!" Jacob knew that he was at a type disadvantage but Bulbasaur was his only pokémon. Hopefully Jake's lack of experience was going to make the battle easier. Either way he knew that in the future he will not always have the type advantage, so he might as well start practicing on how to deal with situations like that.

Jake had to admit that the name of the move Jacob had chosen didn't sound too threatening, but he soon understood why it was given the name 'Razor Leaf' when he saw how fast the leaves were making their towards Charmander. "Be careful!" Charmander of course moved out of the way but the leaves were very fast so she did receive a few small cuts here and there. "Wow, they are very sharp for just leaves!" said Jake in surprise as he noticed the cuts.

"That's why the move's called Razor Leaf!" said Jacob with a grin. "Alright Bulbasaur, again!"

"Those leaves may be sharp but they're still just leaves!" said Jake, having thought of a way to avoid Bulbasaur's Razor Leaf attack. "Charmander, spit fire at those leaves!" He couldn't help but grin as the leaves turned to ashes. "Awesome!" He knew that later Jacob was going to have him admit that pokémon battling was fun while smiling that smug grin of his, but he would worry about that later.

"Well played. You have the mind of a trainer." said Jacob, knowing that he was going to have to think of another way to win the battle. In his opinion though the more challenging a battle was the more both trainers benefitted from it. "By the way Jake, the type of attack you just used is called Ember or Flamethrower. It depends on how strong you want the flame to be."

"Which one is stronger?"

"That would definitely be Flamethrower."

"Okay then! Charmander, use Flamethrower!"

Jacob was caught off-guard. "Bulbasaur, dodge it!" He should have realized that Jake was going to use Flamethrower again. "That's what I get for telling you, huh?"

Jake knew that in order to land a successful hit on Bulbasaur he was going to have to think of a way to slow him down so that he will have a harder time dodging. "Okay Charmander, it's time to use those claws and teeth of yours! We'll see if they'll dodge the next Flamethrower after that!" Weakening Bulbasaur a little was definitely going to help them land a successful hit.

Jacob couldn't help but grin. Jake was inexperienced but he was definitely getting the hang of things very quickly. "It looks like this battle is finally starting!"

Both trainers were about to tell them pokémon what to do next when they heard a familiar voice from a distance. "Hey, you!" The two trainers and their pokémon stopped and looked in the direction of the sound. It was Brad.

"What is he doing here?" asked Jacob with a raised eyebrow.

"I have no idea." said Jake, sounding sad. "But I've just lost my appetite and my will to live."

"What do you want Brad?" asked Jacob once Brad came close enough for Jacob to not have to raise his voice.

"I want a rematch! This time you're going to get owned!"

"Can't you see we're in the middle of something here?" asked Jacob, obviously annoyed.

"Yes, Brad, we're busy." said Jake. "Go away, we don't like you." Why did Brad always show his face just whenever Jake felt like he was having a good time?

"You didn't think you were going to just leave Pewter City and avoid defeat did you?!" asked Brad, still looking at Jacob. "Come on!"

"No, Brad."

"Why? Are you scared?" asked Brad, smiling an arrogant smile.

"Just kick his butt Jacob. Anything so that I don't have to hear his voice." said Jake, doing a gesture with his hand in Charmander's direction. The little fire-type pokémon understood the message and came over. Jake picked her up and began to gently stroke her little head. "You were great." He smiled, getting an affectionate nuzzle in return. "Come on, let's go lie down under that tree over there and I'll take care of those scratches." It's not like Charmander had received any actual injuries because of Bulbasaur's Razor Leaf, but he still wanted to make sure that she was as comfortable as possible. "Then I can introduce you to the pleasure of napping!"

Both Jacob and Brad looked at Jake as he and Charmander went over to the tree and sat down in the shade. "Did I miss anything?" asked Brad, raising an eyebrow.

"I was asking myself the same thing." said Jacob.

"…"

"…"

"You're going down!"

Jacob sighed. "Come on Bulbasaur, it's _that_ time again."


	7. The Myserious Egg

**A/N: To coldblue (guest): I'm not angry with you at all =)**

**It's just that I'd really like to answer your questions. Um… Do you play Team Fortress 2? What I'm trying to ask is whether you have a Steam account? If you do my Steam profile name is written on my profile here on the website. (Just click my name at the top of this page. It should appear next to the cover picture of the story)**

Jake sat down in the shade provided by the tree with Charmander in his arms and then opened his backpacks and began searching for one of the potions he had purchased earlier in the pokémart. He didn't really pay much attention to the rematch that was just beginning between Brad's Squirtle and Jacob's Bulbasaur. While he did gain a certain interest for pokémon battles a few minutes ago when he realized how fun it actually was while battling Jacob, he could care less about anything that Brad had a part in. Besides he had no doubt that Jacob was going to win again, and once that happened he was going to make sure to rub it in Brad's face as much as possible.

With all the excitement about getting out of Pewter City Jake completely forgot in which part of his backpack he had placed the potions in so it took him a few seconds to find them. "Oh, here we go." he said with a smile after finding the potions, taking one of them out of the bag as he did. While he did indeed know almost nothing about pokémon and therefore nothing about items that were used in order to take care of them, he did figure out that a potion was some sort of a medicine (seeing that its purpose to heal pokémon's wounds). Therefore he had no doubt that it was going to sting a little.

"This might hurt for just a sec okay?" he asked in a quiet tone, getting a rather apprehensive but trustful nod in return. Once Jake had Charmander's approval he went ahead and sprayed some of the potion on Charmander's cuts. The pokémon winced slightly when the liquid inside the small bottle came in contact with her small bruises but the stinging sensation was soon replaced with a more soothing one. Jake couldn't help but smile at Charmander's noticeable comfort. "All better now are we?"

"_Charmander!_" exclaimed the little pokémon, nuzzling her trainer's arm and hugging it.

Jake then realized that he just sounded like that nurse from the pokémon center that took care of Charmander after he had found her in the Viridian Forest more than a week ago but it didn't really bother him. "That was really cool by the way, especially the part with all the fire." he said after a few seconds, referring to the battle against Jacob's Bulbasaur that took place a few minutes ago. "It always amazes me how strong pokémon are, especially the smaller ones." That was something that he had been astonished by his entire life. As much as it made him curious all these years, it was also one of the things that made him look at pokémon in a more negative light up until yesterday in the evening (for obvious reasons).

"_Char!_" The pokémon's jolly expression was a clear indication that she liked the compliment. Jake couldn't help but wonder whether female pokémon liked compliments more than male pokémon. It seemed like something that had no importance whatsoever but, seeing how Jake has always been the curious type, now that he had decided to give the whole 'being a trainer' thing a chance he had an interest for even the littlest things.

Having taken care of healing Charmander's cuts, Jake went ahead and lay down on his back on the grass, looking up at the leaves of the tree they were under and observing the way they swayed in the wind.

There are days that are quite hot and are more pleasant when spent in the shade and there are days where it can get a little cold. Finding shade is almost never a problem. Unfortunately, if you ever feel like sitting in the sun because it gets too cold, you'll realize that the sky's cloudy. Nature's such a troll. There are clouds in the sky whenever you're in need of some sunlight but there isn't even a single one of them during one of those really hot days where you happen to have a sports lesson outside. Don't even get me started on those completely random days which look like they're going to be hot and you go outside wearing nothing but a plain jeans and a T-shirt, only to get to school completely soaked in water. Then you just sit in class for hours while feeling like you'd rather shoot yourself because your socks are wet and because you've caught a cold.

Jake was able to ignore the racket caused by the pokémon battle that was still going on between Brad and Jacob and was about to fall asleep when a ringing sound made him jump into a sitting position. Poor Charmander, who had been peacefully lying on his stomach until that very moment, ended up on the grass. After a second or two Jake realized that the noise was coming from the Xtransceiver Jacob had given him before they left Pewter City earlier that morning. He looked at Jacob and Brad in the distance and saw that they were still in the heat of their battle. So, if it wasn't Jacob, who else could be calling him?

It took Jake a few more seconds before he realized how to answer the call, seeing that Jacob had forgotten to explain how he was supposed to pick up a call or how to make one himself. He found himself looking at somebody he had never met before once the caller appeared on the screen of his Xtransceiver. "Hello? Jacob?" It was a man who seemed old enough to be Jake's grandfather. Jake was only able to see the upper part of the man on the screen and it looked like he was wearing a lab coat.

"No." said Jake with a raised eyebrow. "Who are you?"

The man on the screen stared at him for a moment before a rather embarrassed look appeared on his face. "Oh, dear me… My name's Professor Oak. Jacob's father gave me this number so that I can keep in touch with his son, um… Maybe I wrote it down wrong…"

"Wait a sec," said Jake, noticing that the professor was about to hang up. "I'm Jacob's friend. His father got us both one of these phone-watch thingies; he probably didn't know which of them Jacob would be using so he gave you the number of this one."

"Oh, you're Jake?" asked the professor with a smile. "Your friend told me quite a lot about you. I take it that his father didn't find it necessary to give me both of the numbers because you're traveling together?"

"I wouldn't call it traveling… yet…" said Jake, looking at Pewter City which was about a few minutes' walk away from where he was. They haven't really left the city behind yet so he didn't find it appropriate to say that they were traveling. "But yes, he's here."

"Would you mind handing your Xtransceiver to him for a moment?"

"Oh, he's kind of in the middle of a battle right now."

"I called because he told me that the next place you'll be going to is Cerulean City." said the professor, "I happen to have a map of the caves of Mt. Moon. That's the mountain you'll have to go through in order to get to the city. Wait on the line just a sec, I'll send you a copy of it."

"You can send pictures on this weird watch?" asked Jake, surprised. There were probably a lot more things the Xtransceiver could be used for that Jacob had forgotten to tell Jake about.

"Of course." After a few seconds, a beeping sound was emitted by Jake's Xtransceiver. "There you go."

Jake was about to ask how to access the pictures saved on his Xtransceiver so that he could take a look at the map but he figured he could just let Jacob do it later. "Thank you sir, that's going to be very helpful." Jake then noticed that the professor appeared to be staring at him. "Is something wrong?"

"Who is this?"

After a few seconds of confusion Jake realized that Charmander was now sitting on his lap and looking at the Xtransceiver in curiosity and wonder. "Oh… This is my Charmander."

"Oh, right!" said the professor with a sheepish smile. "I remember now." Jacob must have told the professor about _that_ too. "Well, it seems to-"

"She."

"I'm sorry." said Oak with a snicker. "She seems to like you a lot. You must be talented as a pokémon trainer!"

"Um… Thanks, I guess." Jake couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this.

"Well, make good use of that map! Tell Jacob that he can call me anytime if he needs any advice and that I wish both of you good luck for the future."

"I'll tell him. Thank you once again for the map." said Jake with a smile as he hung up the call. He looked at Charmander with a smile. "Now there's a smaller chance of getting lost."

"_Char!_"

"I have no idea how to access it though, so once Jacob opens it I'll let him hold it until we get out on the other side of the mountain." Jake has always had a dislike for maps. The fact that he always needed to turn a map everytime he changed the direction he was walking at always gave him a headache. In addition to that, the odds of them getting lost would be much higher if Jake was the one holding the map and in charge of leading the way. He might as well let Jacob lead the way for the sake of having no headaches and for the sake of not getting lost in a cave filled with wild pokémon that might suddenly try to eat them or steal their food. "Plus, if we get lost, it'll be his fault and that will make the whole idea of being lost in a cave filled with dangerous pokémon look somewhat humorous. Well… at least from my perspective."

Charmander snickered. Jake considered trying to fall asleep again but the fact that the noise coming from the direction of Brad and Jacob was now much louder indicated that their battle has already ended. He sighed and facepalmed. He didn't need to ask in order to find out who had won the match. Having known Jacob for 7 years already, he knew that Jacob would never make a scene out of a defeat. So obviously, when considering the now bigger lack of quiet, Jacob wasn't the one who had lost.

For a moment Jake wished that Brad had won just so that he wouldn't have to hear him talk so loudly, but when he thought about it again he realized that the victory would have made Brad happy, and Jake disliked Brad so much that it was completely out of the question. He was able to endure the headache Brad's shouting was giving him just because he had Brad's irritation to rely on as a source of joy and comfort.

Reluctant, he took his backpack and Charmander before walking over to the two. "Is it over? Can we leave now?" he asked with obvious annoyance, cutting Brad in the middle of his sentence.

Brad looked at Jake for a moment, as if studying his expression. "Were you really trying to fall asleep?" he asked after a long silence.

"Yes." answered Jake, as bluntly as he could.

"…" Jake didn't know whether Brad's eye really twitched back there or whether it was just his imagination. "You know, there are places where that would be considered as being rude."

"Oh, excuse me your highness!" Jacob couldn't help but chuckle. There was something about the interaction between Brad and Jacob that he always found amusing. "Next time I'll come over to your house for a tea party and you can teach me about manners!" There really was something funny and absurd about someone like Brad complaining about somebody else being rude.

"Ugh, well… You…" Brad then looked at Jacob who was no longer able to keep a straight face. "This isn't over yet! I'll be back and-"

"Of course you will." said Jake with a sigh, causing Jacob to laugh.

"Be quiet!" he looked back at Jacob, "I'll be back and then you'll lose!" with that he stormed off.

"Thank goodness he's gone…" said Jake as he took off his Xtransceiver, "By the way, while you were battling I got a call from that professor from Pallet Town." He handed the phone-watch to Jacob. "Your dad must have accidentally given him my number instead of yours. Anyway, he sent me a map of the caves of this mountain we're supposed to go through."

"Really? That's great. I should call him and thank him for that." said Jacob as he took Jake's Xtransceiver from him and loaded the photocopy of the map.

"You can thank him later. Right now we should start moving before Brad comes back."

"This cave is actually pretty cool." said Jake sometime later as he and Jacob walked through the cave with Charmander and Bulbasaur walking next to them. The main reason why he said that was that they haven't encountered any wild pokémon yet and that allowed him to actually pay attention to the scenery rather than worry about random pokémon that might suddenly show up. "So far nothing tried to eat us."

"The reason why we're not seeing any wild pokémon in my opinion is because the pokémon that live here are used to being in the dark." Jacob had a flashlight packed with him in his bag but he had no use for it because the flame at the tip of Charmander's tail provided them with the light they needed in order to navigate through the tunnels. "It's probably because of Charmander's flame."

"Great."

"I'm actually hoping we can come across a pokémon named Bronzor…" said Jacob, "They're originally from Sinnoh but recently they've been spotted here in Mt. Moon as well. But it's very rare to come across one of them in this area…" **(A/N: In HeartGold and SoulSilver it's possible to find a Bronzor in Mt. Moon)**

"Sounds like something that's going to take some time…" said Jake with a sigh.

"Well, it's usually the best idea to have a variety of types in your team." explained Jacob. "By the way, can I borrow Charmander for a moment once we find one?"

"Why?" asked Jake with a raised eyebrow.

"Bronzor is a dual steel / psychic time and Bulbasaur is a dual grass / poison type. Steel pokémon have a resistance to grass type moves and an immunity to poison type attacks. Plus psychic has an advantage over poison. Steel types are weak to fire however."

Jake sighed. "I don't mind, if Charmander's okay with it."

Jacob looked at Charmander with a pleading expression. "What do you say Charmander? Will you help me out with this?"

"_Char!_"

"Well, from the tone and the adorable smile I can conclude that it's a positive answer." said Jake with a shrug. "But you're leaving Bulbasaur with me in case a wild pokémon tries to devour me."

"Deal."

They kept on walking through the tunnels until Jacob suddenly stopped. "According to the map we're directly in the middle of the tunnel system. It's only 2 PM so we have plenty of time to look around and make it out of the cave before the sun goes down."

Jake couldn't help but wonder why Jacob thought that this specific area was the best area to look for a specific pokémon at. To him every single part of the cave looked exactly the same as the others. "Why here out of all places?" It was still confusing how they haven't come across a single pokémon yet.

"I just have a good feeling since we're right in the middle."

"Alright." said Jake as he lay down on his back on the ground, using his bag as a pillow. The ground of the cave was cold and surprisingly comfortable. "You and Charmander can look around. Just leave Bulbasaur and your flashlight here."

"Okay." He got his flashlight out of his bag and handed it to Jake before looking at Bulbasaur. "Stay here with Jake until I come back alright?"

"_Bulbasaur!_"

"We'll be back later." He smiled and looked at Charmander, "Ready to go?"

"_Char!_"

The two left, leaving Jake and Bulbasaur on their own. Jake turned on Jacob's flashlight and simply placed it on the ground so to provide them with some light. Silence followed. "Are you hungry?" he asked after a short while, looking at Bulbasaur. "I know defeating Brad probably wasn't too difficult for you," Bulbasaur chuckled, "but who knows."

"_Saur!_"

"Alright then, here you go." He said, filling a small plate with some pokémon food and putting it down on the ground. After that he placed his head back down on his bag and closed his eyes, hoping to maybe get some rest before Jacob and Charmander came back. Falling asleep in a cave filled with wild pokémon wasn't the best idea but Jake knew he could count on Jacob's Bulbasaur. Only a day ago he would have gone insane if he had found himself in a situation like this but many things have changed in the past 24 hours.

"Did you hear that?" he asked all of a sudden and sat up as he heard a noise in the distance. He looked at Bulbasaur and the grass-type pokémon nodded. The noise was not coming from the direction of the path Jacob and Charmander had taken, which made the situation even more confusing. "We should go check it out." While his instincts told him not to follow the noise because it might lead him to something dangerous he couldn't stop thinking that it might be someone who was in trouble or a pokémon that was injured. "I just hope it's not that psychic-steel thing Jacob's looking for…" He and Bulbasaur would be completely helpless against a pokémon like that. Jake knew that thanks to Jacob's explanation from before.

He took the flashlight in his hand and placed his backpack back on his back. As he walked with Bulbasaur he carefully listened out but he couldn't hear anything. "Wait, can you see that thing in the distance? Over there?" he asked after a short while as he saw something on the floor ahead of them. It had an elliptical shape and it seemed as big as a soccer ball. Jake and Bulbasaur stopped in front of it. "Is this a pokémon egg?" Obviously he couldn't tell but Bulbasaur might be able to.

The grass-type pokémon sniffed the egg for a moment before looking at Jake with a nod. Jake found it very unlikely for an egg to be lying like that in the middle of a cave filled with wild pokémon. He looked around and couldn't see any pokémon at all, which meant that whatever pokémon that laid the egg was not around. It was only a matter of time before something bad happened to it. By taking it, of course, he would prevent its mother from ever finding it, but there was also a rather big chance that something happened to its mother. "Okay then." He picked the egg up before looking at Bulbasaur. "Come on, let's go find Jacob."


	8. The Food Snatcher

Finding that egg naturally reminded Jake of that fateful evening when he had found Charmander in the Viridian Forest. There were two similarities; the first of them being that the egg was just as helpless as Charmander had been back when Jake found her in the forest and the other being that, just like when he had found Charmander, he had no idea what to do. Did pokémon eggs require a certain amount of warmth to survive? It was a little cold inside the cave, so Jake decided to wrap the egg in his jacket and put it in his bag just to be on the safe side. He could definitely feel the chill of the cave without his jacket on but he was able to shrug it off. The egg also added quite a noticeable amount of weight to his bag.

After a minute or two of walking in the direction they had come from Jake and Bulbasaur arrived at the spot where Jacob had told them to wait at. While I did mention that to Jake every single part of the cave looked exactly the same as the others, Jake could identify the place because the plate in which he had placed food for Bulbasaur a few minutes ago was still there. All the food that had been there a few minutes ago was now gone, however. Some wild pokémon must have taken the opportunity once Jake and Bulbasaur were gone and ate whatever was left on the plate.

Jake had more important things to worry about so it didn't bother him too much, not to mention that he and Jacob still had more than enough food for both them and their pokémon. They had stocked up on food and water for a few days and Jacob predicted that getting to Cerulean City was going to take only 2 days. He didn't bother refilling the plate with some more pokémon food, knowing that Bulbasaur would let him know in case he got hungry again.

"Let's just wait here until Jacob and Charmander come back." said Jake as he sat down on the ground and put his bag on his lap where he could keep an eye on it. He doubted his friend knew how to take care of a pokémon egg but maybe Jacob would be able to give Professor Oak a call. Also, he was hoping that the professor would be able to tell them what the pokémon that was growing up inside the egg was. In fact finding out what pokémon was going to hatch from the egg was what Jake was curious about the most. He would have given the professor a call himself if he had his number. Now that he was thinking about it there probably wasn't enough reception in the middle of a cave in order to even make a phone call to begin with.

Hopefully a Weedle wasn't going to hatch from it (seeing that Weedles eventually evolve into Beedrills). The odds of an egg of a bug-type pokémon ending up in a cave like this were very low though. Yes, that was a comforting thought. He was hoping that the next Beedrill he might ever see in the future would be under the ownership of some trainer. Then he wouldn't have to worry about getting chased by the thing. It was kind of embarrassing to try to predict what pokémon would come out of the egg when all he knew was maybe 10 species, because as far as he knew there were hundreds of pokémon species in existence.

He didn't know how much time had passed because there's a possibility that he ended up dozing off at some point but he could feel Bulbasaur nudging one of his legs. "What is it?" A few moments later he could hear the noise of somebody or something heading in their direction. Eventually he was able to see a light in the distance and concluded that it was coming from Charmander's Flame. "Ugh, finally…" It sure did take them a lot of time. Jake didn't even know whether Jacob was able to find that pokémon he was looking for but he was too busy being relieved about the fact that it was not a gigantic snake made out of rocks that was making its way towards him and Bulbasaur.

"We caught one!" exclaimed Jacob with a triumphant expression while holding a pokéball in his hand, probably the one that contained his newly caught pokémon. "Finding this pokémon actually didn't take as long as I thought it would."

"Dude, check this out." said Jake, cutting his friend short before he could say another word. He took out the egg from his bag and showed it to Jacob, much to his astonishment.

"Is that a pokémon egg?" asked Jacob, getting a nod in response. "Where did you-"

"I found it somewhere in that tunnel. It was just lying around in the middle of the pathway." explained Jake.

"So you just took it?"

"I'm not a pokémon expert but I don't think it's very safe for an egg to just be on its own like that." said Jake with a shrug as he gently placed the egg down on the ground, allowing Charmander and Bulbasaur to get a closer look at it. "So yes, I took it." Both he and Jacob looked at the egg for a rather long while. "What's in it?" As far as _he_ knew it could be anything.

Jacob shrugged. "I have no idea."

"I don't even know what to do with it now. How do you take care of a pokémon egg?" asked Jake as Jacob shrugged once again. He thought for a moment before his eyes fell on Charmander. "You!"

"_Char?_" asked the little pokémon in surprise as Jake picked her up and placed her down so that she was sitting on the egg.

"There."

"What did you do that for?" asked Jacob with a chuckle, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm trying to trigger Charmander's mother instincts." Jacob chuckled once again and Jake sat down in front of Charmander, who was still sitting on the egg with a confused expression on her face. There was something adorable in the way she was sitting on an egg while looking so confused. "So, you feel anything?"

"_Char!_"

"I see…"

"See what?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow.

"She has no idea what to do with it." said Jake, looking at Jacob. "Isn't that obvious?"

"Uh… no…"

"I think the best thing we can do is to give Professor Oak a call and ask him how to treat this egg until it hatches." said Jake as he gently placed Charmander down on the ground before picking the egg up and wrapping it in his jacket once again. This time, however, he decided to hold it and not put it in his bag like before. "Maybe he'll be able to tell what pokémon will hatch from it."

"That's a good idea." said Jacob. "We should get out of the cave first because there's no reception here. If it's not too late into the evening by the time we make it outside then I'll give him a call. If not, we'll just do it tomorrow in the morning."

The two began following the map once again and eventually made it to the other side of the mountain. There wasn't a big amount of light coming from the exit, which allowed them to conclude that it was almost dark already even before going outside. "Well, looks like we made it through the cave before nightfall." said Jacob, sounding satisfied at having been able to progress according to his schedule.

As they slowly came closer to the exit they were suddenly able to hear talking outside. For a moment Jake was horrified at the possibility of Brad waiting for them outside but he knew that that was very unlikely, seeing how they've left Pewter City before he did. They were able to see the two people talking just before stepping out of the cave, and they both found themselves coming to a full stop as the two came into view. "What are they wearing?" asked Jake quietly, looking at his friend in the corner of his eye.

"Looks like some sort of a uniform to me." answered Jacob, sounding just as confused.

Jake found himself becoming even more confused as Charmander suddenly went ahead and hid behind his legs. While Bulbasaur didn't do the same thing with Jacob, it was easy to tell that he was a little uneasy as well. "What is it Charmander?" asked Jake, looking down at his pokémon but not getting an answer. He looked once again towards the two people in the weird uniforms and noticed they had a pretty big sack with them. "What's in that sac?" he asked, looking at Jacob.

"I don't have a clue."

"Man, the people in this region are much more foolish than those in Unova!" said the first one of the two.

"Yeah, we've been out here for only a few days and look at this loot!" said the other. The two sounded as if they were a few years older than Jake and Jacob were. The two then opened the sac, and both Jacob and Jake were surprised to see it was filled with pokéballs. "The Shadow Triad's idea to completely move here was brilliant."

"Are those pokéballs?" asked Jacob in surprise, only to have Jake silence him by putting his hand over his mouth.

The two looked through the bag for a couple of moments before one of them seemed as if he had lost something. "Wait a second," he said all of a sudden, "where's the egg?"

"The egg?" asked the other.

"Yes, the one it took us forever to get!" said the first, sounding angry. "It took us ages to take that egg away from its mother and we almost died while running away from her!"

"Oh, yeah, that egg…"

"If the pokémon that was protecting that egg was indeed its mother…" he seemed unable to finish his sentence because of how angry he was, "The executives are going to kill us!"

"Maybe we can just tell them that we didn't find it to begin with?"

The other one facepalmed with obvious annoyance, "They've been tracking the nest for over a week now! The moment they check up on it again and see that the egg is gone we're done for!"

"They stole that egg from its mother?" asked Jake, a frown on his face.

"Well, from the sound of it I'd say-" Jacob was cut in mid sentence when Jake handed him the egg and began making his way towards the two. "Jake, wait!" he said quietly as he grabbed his friend by the arm. "What are you doing?

"Finding out who the hell these two are." said Jake angrily, releasing his arm from Jacob's grip. "Where did all these pokéballs come from?"

"Look, I don't think we should get involved with these two… Let's just get away from this place before they see we have the egg with us."

"They stole it from its mother, Jacob." he looked at Charmander. "You understand, right?" Charmander nodded. "Then come on." He didn't care how bad of an idea it was but he and Charmander slowly made their way over. "Hey!" The two looked at the teenager in front of them, a confused look upon their faces. Now that they were facing him Jake was able to see that they had tags with the letter P attached to their uniforms. "Where exactly did you find all these pokéballs?"

"Can't you tell by our uniforms and by the way they're all stashed in a sac?" asked one of them with an evil snicker. "We stole them!"

"Who are you guys?" Obviously, from the way they were dressed up, they weren't from Team Rocket.

"Haven't you ever heard of us? We're Team Plasma!"

"Wait a minute, I thought Team Plasma was disbanded in Unova just a few months ago!" said Jacob, who had also made his way over. **(A/N: This is pretty much the same Team Plasma from Black 2 & White 2, only in Kanto)**

"We're starting over here in Kanto!"

"Didn't your leader pass away or something?"

"Who's Team Plasma?" asked Jake, looking at his friend.

"We're planning to take over the region and we steal other people's pokémon in order to use them ourselves and in order to squash any resistance!" said one of the Team Plasma grunts, looking at Jake as he did. "We'll be taking that Charmander, the Bulbasaur and whatever other pokémon you have with you!"

"Just let me get one thing…" said Jake, taking the egg from Jacob and revealing it by removing his jacket from it. He didn't seem to be afraid of the two Team Plasma grunts at all. "Did you take this egg from its mother?"

"Oh, how convenient it is for you to find it for us!"

"Answer the question." said Jake with a frown.

"Yes, yes we did. It doesn't matter who we steal a pokémon from as long as Team Plasma gets to use it!"

"That's all I needed to hear…"

Each of the two Team Plasma grunts took out a pokéball. "Now hand over your-"

"Charmander, Flamethrower! Now!"

"Wait, what are you-" the two ended up jumping out of the way as Charmander shot a Flamethrower attack at their feet. "Hey, wait a second! We haven't even sent out our pokémon yet!"

"I don't care about the rules!" As if Team Plasma ever follows any rule. "Charmander, again!"

"You're crazy, that's what you are kid!" shouted one of them as he grabbed the sac filled with pokéballs and began running off.

"Wait, what about the egg?!" shouted the other as he ran after his comrade.

"Forget the egg! That kid's a pyromaniac!"

Both Jacob and Jake continued standing there silently for a long time after the two grunts took off. While Jake did order Charmander to aim that Flamethrower attack at the feet of the two grunts he was still slightly surprised at himself for having asked her to do it. It was the knowledge that they separated the egg from its mother that filled him with such fury, and it was probably what made Charmander comply and carry out his order, regardless of how absurd it was. The important thing was that they were gone. "Let's just get out our sleeping bags and go to sleep okay?" He felt like he would feel much better after getting some sleep. "We'll sleep in turns just in case those two come back."

When Jacob woke up the following morning a rather pleasant smell reached his nostrils. He opened his eyes and saw that Jake was already awake and in the middle of making breakfast. "How long have you been awake?" he asked, sitting up in his sleeping bag.

"About 20 minutes." said the latter, rather calmly.

Jacob decided not to bring up the events of the previous evening. He looked and saw that one dish of breakfast was already ready. "Oh, you didn't have to make breakfast for me. I can make one for myself next time."

"It's okay." said Jake, flipping the omelet he was making with just a single swing of his frying pan. "I don't mind. I kind of have to admit that cooking has been like occupational therapy for me in the past 7 years. It helps me take my mind off of things I don't want to think about." It was true that in the past 7 years he had welcomed pretty much everything that helped him not think about the fact that his parents and sister were dead, not to mention that he had also spent those 7 years working in a restaurant. "Plus you, uh… How do I say this…? Your cooking's horrible."

Jacob chuckled. "That's true." He stood up and stretched. "I guess Charmander helped you light up the fire for this one, huh?" he asked as he took out Bulbasaur's pokéball and let the grass-type pokémon out, deciding to give him some fresh air.

"Yeah." He fell silent for a moment. "Hey, do you think that guy from yesterday was right about what he said?"

"What do you mean?" asked Jacob as he released his Bronzor from his pokéball as well.

Jake found himself staring at the flat and circular steel-type pokémon, raising an eyebrow as it suddenly began levitating in the air. "This thing can float?"

"Yep! Pretty neat, huh?"

"I guess so." said Jake with a shrug as he went ahead and finished preparing the other dish, placing it down next to the first one.

"Anyways, what were you saying just a moment ago?"

"What that Team Plasma grunt said before they took off." said Jake as he stared at the small fire which he had used while making their breakfast. "Do you think I'm a pyromaniac?"

Jacob raised an eyebrow. That was a really weird question. "Well… You do seem to get really excited whenever Charmander battles." He looked at his friend, who was still staring at the fire. "Why? Did that offend you?"

"Not at all!" said Jake with a smile. "In fact I think he was right. I think I have discovered my passion."

"Uh… you mean pokémon, right?"

"Nope. Well, sort of…" He was about to continue his sentence before suddenly remembering that Jacob had promised to call Professor Oak in the morning and ask him about the egg. "Oh, can you call the professor now?" The egg was of course safely positioned in Jake's jacket which was placed on Jake's empty sleeping bag.

"Oh, yeah, I completely forgot about that!" said Jacob with a sheepish smile as he began doing something with his Xtransceiver. However he stopped after a few seconds and simply stared at Jake.

"What is it?" After a few seconds Jake realized that Jacob was not staring at him but at something that was behind him. He turned around and saw that a fox-like pokémon had wondered over to where they were and was now looking at everything around it in curiosity and wonder. The pokémon seemed interested in all the human-made items. "What's this?"

"That's a Vulpix!" said Jacob as he took out his pokédex and scanned the Vulpix with it. "It's a fire-type pokémon. Wow, pokémon rarely just come over to people just because they are curious about them."

"A fire-type pokémon you say?" He seemed like he was about to say something else but he suddenly stared as the Vulpix started sniffing around and came to a stop in front of the breakfast Jake had worked so hard on for the past few minutes. "What is it doi-" His jaw dropped as the Vulpix simply opened its mouth and devoured their food. The fruits of his labor – gone!

"Well, I guess they do come over if they smell food…" said Jacob. He let out a nervous chuckle and looked at Jake, who did not seem amused at all.

"I made… And you ate… You ate my food!" The Vulpix looked at Jake with a confused and somewhat naïve expression. Jake looked at Charmander, and Jacob gulped when he saw one of Jake's eyes twitch. Obviously Jacob was now worried about the poor Vulpix's wellbeing. "Charmander, attack!" The Vulpix got startled when Jake raised his voice and began running away. "After the fox!" He ran over and grabbed his bag before chasing the fire-type pokémon, making sure that Charmander didn't fall behind by letting her sit on his shoulders.

"Um…" said Jacob to himself as he watched Jake run off. He would have followed Jake but somebody had to stay and keep an eye on the egg and the rest of their things. "That's okay! I'll uh, wait here…" He sat back down and stared at the empty food plates. "I'm still hungry though…" He looked at Bronzor, who was silently floating in the air in front of him. "Can pokémon like you cook with their psychic abilities?" Bronzor simply stared at him and blinked, causing him to sigh. "Yeah… I thought so…"


	9. Melanie and Cerulean City

"And…. Ta-da!" exclaimed Jacob with a sense of pride as he presented a plate filled with what he thought was a well-made breakfast to his Bulbasaur. "What do you think?" he asked, a rather smug grin on his face. "I think I've finally done it." Bulbasaur seemed a little reluctant at the sight of Jacob's cooking. "Well, take a sniff!" he said, much to the grass-type pokémon's dismay. "I'm sure you'll come to realize that I've really outdone myself!" His excited expression turned into an offended one as Bulbasaur smelled the food and then walked away while coughing with obvious displeasure. "Oh come on, it can't be _that_ bad!"

He grabbed a fork and a knife before cutting himself a piece. "I'll show Jake… 'Horrible cooking' he says…" It took actually took him less than a full second to spit it out because of how horrible it tasted. "Wow, this really is awful…" It was now official: him + cooking = absolutely hopeless. When Jake told him that he thought his cooking was horrible Jacob wanted to say that it wasn't fair because Jake had spent the last 7 years working in a restaurant for a living. However, he didn't say it when he realized that it would have been a rather tactless comment because he was pretty sure that Jake would exchange his cooking skills for a family any day.

"I'm still hungry…" he said with a sigh as he sat down, feeling his stomach grumble as he watched Bulbasaur and Bronzor eat some of their pokémon food, "You two are lucky your food comes prepared in a box." Watching them eat made him grow hungrier and hungrier. "I feel like I can eat anything…" his eyes fell on the pokémon food his two pokémon were eating, "I wonder if _that_ tastes better than my cooking… No, what am I thinking? I can't eat that, I'm not _that_ desperate!" He kept staring at the food, "But who knows when Jake's going to come back…"

"_Bulbasaur!_"

"Don't judge me when I'm hungry…" he said, frowning as Bulbasaur chuckled, "Just give me a small piece."

"I know you said that trainers should… 'bond' with their pokémon, but if you're going to eat pokémon food it just means you're a freak." Jacob turned around and saw Jake standing there with Charmander sitting on his shoulders and a pokéball in his hand. Both Charmander and Bulbasaur seemed quite amused while Bronzor had its usual blank expression.

Jacob felt his face turn red. Why did Jake always show up at the worst possible moments? "This isn't what it looks like!"

"You tried cooking, failed miserably and then became so desperate that you were willing to eat pokémon food."

"Oh… So it's exactly what it looks like…" again Jake proved that he could easily read Jacob like an open book. Thinking of how to change the subject, Jacob suddenly noticed the pokéball Jake was holding. "So how did it go with Vulpix?"

"The sneaky fox thought she could get away with it…" said Jake with an amused chuckle as he tossed the pokéball in the air and then caught it again with a satisfied smile, "I realized it's a she when she tried using 'Attract' on Charmander. It didn't work."

Jacob raised an eyebrow, "Why not?"

"…"

"Oh, right!"

"Anyways…" said Jake as he looked at the pokéball with a somewhat evil expression, "Now to think of a punishment for this Vulpix…" **(A/N: Insert evil laugh here)**

Jacob once again became concerned for Vulpix's wellbeing. He silently watched as Jake released the fire-type pokémon from its ball. The fox-like pokémon sat there on the ground with a guilty expression on her face and with her ears flat against her head. "What are you going to do?" asked Jacob worriedly, hoping that he wouldn't have to protect Vulpix with his own body or something of the sort.

"I'm going to-" He opened his bag and brought out some pokémon food and a potion, "-feed it and affectionately take care of the wounds Charmander inflicted."

"Wait, what?" asked Jacob, surprised. "I know I'm going to regret this, but weren't you talking about a punishment just a moment ago?" He still wasn't used to Jake's new attitude towards pokémon, and with the way he angrily chased Vulpix just a few minutes ago Jacob wasn't expecting such an answer at all. "Are you sure that you weren't abducted by aliens?"

"Well, she's stuck with me now. That's her punishment!" Jake has always been somewhat famous for the amount of self humor he had. "Charmander will most probably agree!" He placed another plate with pokémon food in front of Vulpix and began using the potion. "Aren't you just super cute?

"_Charmander!_"

"Yes Charmander, you're cute too."

"So…" said Jacob after a short silence, "You have 2 fire-types in your team now… So much for having a variety of types…"

"Don't you understand, Jacob?"

"Understand what?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow.

"You're planning to take on the 8 gyms and take on the pokémon league, right?"

"Well, that's the goal, yeah."

"And why are you planning to do that?" asked Jake.

"Well…" said Jacob, finding the question rather weird, "To become a Pokémon Master. That's the dream of pretty much every trainer."

"Being the best with a certain type certainly sounds easier than being the best trainer ever. Not to mention that it's obviously a better choice for a goal if you prefer a specific type…" Jake was about to say something else when he was cut short by a shout from the distance.

"Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacob!" the two turned in the direction of the noise and saw a girl running in their direction. She seemed to be around the age of 14. She had brown hair and she was wearing a hat that seemed a little ridiculous. She was also holding a weird looking side bag in her arm which looked as if it was about to slip out of her grip as she ran in their direction.

"Who's that?" asked Jake, having never seen the girl before. Jacob was about to answer when the girl suddenly tripped over a twig and fell over. "That's gotta hurt." They went ahead and ran towards the girl to make sure she was okay.

"Man, I'm so clumsy sometimes!" she said with a sheepish smile and a red face (because she landed on her face when she fell).

"Are you alright?!" asked Jacob as he helped her sit up, looking rather concerned as he did.

"I'm doing peachy over here!" all of a sudden she jumped to her feet with what appeared to be a huge burst of energy. "When I got to Pewter City I heard you left for Cerulean City so I hurried and came here!" she said with a giggle.

Jacob sighed. It was obvious that she was used to tripping over everything but it was quite a worrying sight to see somebody fall on his / her face. He chuckled and looked at his friend. "Jake, this is Melanie. She got her first pokémon from Professor Oak when Brad and I got ours. She's from Pallet Town."

"Hey Melanie, it's nice to meet you." said Jake, out of politeness. He looked at Jacob. "Just how many rivals do you have?" Well, there was Brad and now he was meeting this girl from Pallet Town. Maybe Jacob had more adversaries Jake didn't know about?

"Oh, don't worry!" said Melanie with a giggle, "I'm the friendly type of rival! I'm not like Brad."

"That's good to hear." said Jake with a smile. "Because Brad's a moron."

"I know. All he does is brag all the time." said the brunette as she rolled her eyes. "I've barely seen him twice in my life and I already hate it when he talks."

Jake couldn't help but laugh. "I've known him since kindergarten."

"You poor thing!"

"I know!" Finally, somebody who understands his misery!

"Hey, Melanie, I don't want to sound rude…" said Jacob all of a sudden, "But it kind of sounds like you came here looking for me."

"Oh, right, silly me!" she said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head with one of her hands. "I know that this might look like it, but I'm not looking for a battle right now. I just thought it might be fun to have some company on the way to Cerulean City!"

"Well, I don't mind." he looked at Jake who shrugged, silently telling Jacob that he didn't mind either. "Okay, no prob-"

"Oooh! So tell me what happened since we met in Pallet Town! Did you catch any new pokémon?! Have you been to a gym already?!" For a 14 years old girl she sure had a lot of energy.

"No, I haven't been to a gym yet. I did catch a Bronzor after a long time of searching in the cave. Jake caught a Vulpix and found an egg."

"Oooh! What type of egg? What pokémon is going to hatch from it?!" she asked with noticeable enthusiasm as she ran past them, having spotted the egg which was still lying on Jake's sleeping bag.

"Well, we don't know yet." said Jake as he and Jacob walked after her. "I've been thinking about asking the professor about it. Maybe he'll know."

"Aw, it's so cute!" said Melanie with a smile.

Jacob couldn't help but walk over to Melanie and take the egg from her when she decided to pick it up. She was so clumsy that she might end up dropping it. "So, uh… What pokémon have you caught since we met at the professor's lab?"

"Oooh! You will _not_ believe what pokémon I caught!" she opened her bag and began looking through it. "Just a moment, s'il vous plait!" A few long moments went by. "Oh, there they are!" It sure took her some time to find the 2 pokéballs, which made both Jake and Jacob realize that she wasn't a very organized person either. "Alright! Go, Onix!" she tossed the first pokéball as far away from them as possible (so to make sure they wouldn't get crushed by the pokémon).

"Talk about a big pokémon…" muttered Jake to himself, feeling slightly uncomfortable at being next to a pokémon that was so big. Hopefully this pokémon wasn't as clumsy as its trainer, because if it was then somebody was going to get injured for sure. Charmander, who was still sitting on his shoulders, seemed much calmer than he was.

"Caterpie!" she dropped the other pokéball on the floor. "Aww, isn't it just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!" she exclaimed as she picked up the little bug-type pokémon and hugged it.

"I see you've been busy." said Jacob with a chuckle as he looked at Melanie's pokémon.

"Wait, I just thought about something…" said Jake, looking at Melanie after a long moment of being unable to look away from Onix because of how impressively big the rock-type pokémon was. "The two of you and Brad got your starter pokémon at the same time, right?"

"Yep!" exclaimed Melanie, continuing to hold Caterpie in a tight embrace. Caterpie seemed rather happy about that.

"So, if Jacob chose Bulbasaur, and Brad chose Squirtle…"

"That's right!" said Melanie as she winked in Charmander's direction before taking out another pokéball from her bag and tossing it into the air. "Come on out, Charmander!" After a moment or two her Charmander noticed Jake's Charmander. "Oooh, you know what will be super cute and will make like the best background for my laptop's desktop?" Without asking for permission she took Jake's Charmander from his shoulders and placed her down in front of her Charmander. "A picture of two adorable Charmanders in a completely romantic situation! Oooh, maybe you two can sit on a hill in front of a beautiful sunset or a rainbow!" she went ahead and nudged the two towards each other with a leg and a hand while looking for her camera with her 2nd hand. Jake's Charmander seemed a little uncomfortable while Melanie's Charmander had a rather goofy expression on his face.

"Um… That is cute and all, but…"

"Oh, come on! Do just a small nuzzle for the camera!"

"So, about the whole part of getting to Cerulean City…" said Jake as he rescued his Charmander from the awkward situation by picking her up, "We should get going."

"You have to turn on the charm! Try showing some muscles next time!" said Melanie quietly to her Charmander who still had a noticeable blush on his cheeks. After that she returned her 3 pokémon into their pokéballs while Jake and Jacob began packing up their sleeping bags. Jacob also returned his pokémon to their pokéballs after he finished packing everything.

Jake placed Charmander back on his shoulder and looked at his newly-caught Vulpix. "I don't mind letting my pokémon stay outside of their pokéballs all the time. If you want you can walk with us."

"_Vulpix!_" The pokémon's happy expression indicated that she liked the idea of staying outside of her pokéball.

The 3 trainers went ahead and continued making their way towards Cerulean City. All the time Melanie talked on and on about pretty much everything that came to her mind. She didn't seem to ever run out of energy, and whenever they spotted some wild pokémon she always tried to capture it but always ended up scaring it away with her enthusiastic remarks about how she was going to catch it. Then, after the pokémon got away from her, she would endlessly complain about how cute it was and about how badly she still wanted to catch it. Sometimes she said it was because her Charmander was too busy looking at Jake's Charmander in order to pay attention. You can definitely say things weren't dull with her around.

"There it is!" exclaimed Melanie at some point while pointing at the open fields ahead of them. "That's Cerulean City!"

After squinting his eyes Jake was able to notice the city in the distance. Jacob then decided to give Professor Oak that phone call he and Jake had decided upon the previous evening. The professor was unable to identify what pokémon was going to hatch from Jake's egg but he was able to give Jake some useful advice on how to take care of it. When Jacob was about to hang up the phone the professor said something else to him. "Oh, Jacob?"

"Yes?"

"Don't ride your bicycle indoors. I will find out immediately." **(A/N: Didn't that ever freak you out when you played the games? Talk about stalking…)**

After another while of walking the three trainers finally arrived at Cerulean City. It was already afternoon by the time they got to the city. "Finally we're here!" said Jake as he stretched his arms and his back. It felt so good to finally be in another city after being stuck in Pewter City for the past 7 years.

"I think we should go to a pokémon center first." said Jacob, only to have Melanie interrupt him.

"I'm going to the daycare on the outskirts of the city first!" exclaimed the brunette. **(A/N: In case you guys don't remember there's this daycare on route 5 to the south of the city)**

"What for?" asked Jacob, confused.

"Silly!" she said with a smiled. "I can meet all sorts of pokémon there and that will help fill my pokédex pages! Wanna come too?"

"Hmm… That really might help me progress on my pokédex, so okay!"

Jake would have asked them what a pokédex is but he knew it would result in a very long speech from Melanie's side. Plus he didn't really care much. So instead of questioning them he just silently followed without saying a word. Maybe he'll get a chance to see other kinds of fire-type pokémon at that daycare.

"After that I'm gonna go take a look at the gym!"

"Do you think you can take on the leader? I heard she uses water-type pokémon." Jacob did come to notice that Melanie's pokémon weren't the best choice for facing a water-type pokémon. Both her Charmander and Onix wouldn't stand much of a chance if Melanie decided to challenge the Gym Leader.

"Well, no… not yet… But I do want to see what the gym looks like! Maybe I'll get to see a challenger battle the leader. Seeing how she battles will certainly help me prepare! I also think that battling some of the trainers who train at the gym can help you get stronger against the gym's type, so that can also help me prepare for facing the Gym Leader."

"True, I never really thought about it like that…" Perhaps he should go to the gym at some point, even if he didn't feel ready to face a Gym Leader yet. Bulbasaur can gain a lot from training at a water-type gym. Bronzor might also be able to get some good training there. While steel-types don't have an advantage over water-types like grass-types do they don't have a disadvantage against them either, so he might as well give it a try. "I think I'll go with you."

As they began making their way southwards Jake noticed that Vulpix seemed a little tired. Walking for such a long time must have exhausted her. Smiling, he went ahead and picked Vulpix up, deciding to carry the fire-type pokémon in his arms in order to allow her to get some rest. Jake wasn't going to tell Jacob, but he was rather interested about seeing how the daycare functioned and about seeing the Cerulean Gym as well. He couldn't help but wonder just how different it was from the Pewter Gym.

"The daycare should be only a few minutes' walk away from the city." said Melanie with noticeable enthusiasm.

Getting to the daycare and meeting all the pokémon that were staying there, however, was going to have to wait. As the three left the city they suddenly saw somebody running in their direction. He seemed rather frightened and out of breath. "Is something wrong?" asked Jake as the man came to a stop in front of them.

"Oh, it's just terrible!" said the man as he tried catching his breath. The three confused trainers in front of him waited for him to continue. "You have to help, it's… It's horrible! Call the police! Call the Gym Leader!"

"What's the matter mister?" asked Melanie.

"Oh, you three are pokémon trainers! You have to go to the daycare and help! I'll go get some help from the city and-"

"Sir, we need you to tell use what's going on." Obviously the man was too upset about something in order to focus.

"Some thugs are stealing all the pokémon from the daycare! You have to stop them!" He ran past them and headed in the direction of the city. "I'll go get help, I must get help!"

Jake frowned as he watched the man run off. "Sounds like Team Plasma." he said, looking at Jacob. Charmander began to growl. It wasn't a very intimidating growl because Charmander was adorably tiny, but it was still a growl.

"Who's Team Plasma?" asked Melanie, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"They're a bunch of bad guys who steal pokémon from people." said Jacob as he looked through his bag and found what he was looking for; Bulbasaur's and Bronzor's pokéballs.

"What?! That's terrible!"

Jake looked at Charmander and then at Vulpix. "This time I won't let them run off like that!" The thought of some trainer being separated from his / her beloved pokémon was enough to fill anybody with rage.

"_Char!_"

"Let's go show them what happens when you play with fire!"

"Wait for me Jake!" said Jacob as he began running after his friend.

"Oh dear oh dear oh dear!" said Melanie as she stood there nervously and watched the two run off in the direction of the daycare. "Hey, wait up!"


	10. Watery Assistance

**A/N: To coldblue: I wrote my Skype username on my profile. You can look up Skype and download it for yourself. After that go to the top of this page. Next to the cover picture of the story you'll see my name (Asaf), and if you click on it it will take you to my profile. Just read through my profile description and you'll find my Skype username. Then you can add me and I'll FINALLY be able to answer your questions =)**

The three trainers continued making their way in the direction of the daycare on route 5 with Melanie leading the way (seeing how she knew where the daycare was while Jacob and Jake didn't). The brunette seemed rather apprehensive about the idea of confronting a group of pokémon thieves. Maybe it was because of the fact that she was still a rather inexperienced trainer and maybe it was because she was worried about having her pokémon taken away from her. It could be both. Still, despite her noticeable hesitation, there was also a lot of determination in her expression.

As the rather large house in question came into view Jake couldn't help but think about the previous evening. Sure, he did prevent those Team Plasma grunts from getting their hands back on the egg he had found, but they also had this big sac filled with stolen pokéballs. Why didn't he try taking the sac away from those thieves? Why did he let them get away with pokémon that already had their own trainers? Sure, finding the trainer of each pokémon would have been hard but if he had taken the sac from the Team Plasma grunts he could have at least prevented Team Plasma from using the stolen pokémon like tools and making them suffer. He was certain about one thing however; this time he was going to do everything that he could in order to prevent them from stealing pokémon.

"Alright guys, this is it!" shouted Melanie once they were close enough in order to be able to read the sign in front of the house that said 'Pokémon Daycare'. She searched through her bag and took out a pokéball as well. This time, however, it didn't take her too long to find it in her bag. "Ready?"

"Ready." said Jacob, nodding.

"I was born ready. Let's do this." said Jake as he ran past Melanie and opened the door.

There were Team Plasma grunts there alright, and quite a few of them too. They had two bags that were loaded with pokéballs. The thieves must have forced the keeper of the daycare to give them the pokéballs so that they could steal the pokémon from the daycare without difficulty. The Team Plasma grunts didn't seem to take any notice of the three trainers who were now there with the intention of putting a stop to their plans. Without even looking at the three, they ran towards an inner part of the building.

"After them!" shouted Jake as he, Jacob and Melanie chased the group.

The chase eventually led the three pursuing trainers into the backyard of the daycare where the keeper of the daycare usually released the pokémon he was in charge of so that they could run around and play with other pokémon. There was a fence there, of course, to prevent the pokémon from wandering off, but it wasn't very high. The Team Plasma grunts were obviously planning to make their getaway by jumping over the fence and running away from Cerulean City.

"Stop right there!"

The Team Plasma grunts came to a stop and turned around. They didn't seem very scared at the fact that there were some random trainers chasing them. Instead they looked bothered and annoyed. "Ugh, here we go again…" said one of them. Obviously they were used to having trainers get in their way. From the sound of it, however, it didn't sound like the trainers who got in their way were very successful in stopping them.

"You guys can't just steal pokémon like that!" said Melanie, holding the pokéball she had with both of her hand and pressing it close to her heart. "People love their pokémon! You can't just separate these pokémon from their trainers!" Obviously Melanie preferred to try talking things over.

"We don't care!" said another grunt, causing the other grunts to laugh. "You three were foolish enough to get in our way so we'll take your pokémon as well! Hand them over and we'll let you go unharmed!"

"Not in your life!" said Jacob angrily as he released his Bulbasaur and Bronzor from their pokéballs. Jake placed Vulpix and Charmander down on the ground and Melanie released her own Charmander as well. Obviously now she was even more worried about having her pokémon taken away from her but she knew that she couldn't leave Jake and Jacob alone with those thugs.

"Really? Why don't you do something about it then? We have you outnumbered!" There was a rather long moment of silence before the Team Plasma grunt broke into laughter. "Oh, this is just priceless! The looks on the faces of all those foolish trainers once they realize what they got themselves into makes me feel so alive!"

The three said nothing. Maybe they really should have thought this through. "You're not taking anything that easily!" Jake didn't seem to care about the fact that they were in trouble.

"As you wish…" About a few seconds later Jake, Jacob and Melanie found themselves standing in front a row of 10 pokémon. They were all Unova pokémon so both Jacob and Melanie were unable to recognize any of them. "Let's get this over with."

Jake knew that the odds weren't really in their favor but he wasn't going to give them either Charmander, Vulpix or the egg as long as he could still fight. "Charmander, use-"

"Starmie, Hydro Pump, now!" Suddenly what appeared to be a much more powerful form of the move Water Gun appeared from the side and hit the row of pokémon belonging to Team Plasma. The move was so powerful that all 10 pokémon ended up in a pile after the water sent them flying straight into the fence that surrounded the backyard they were all in. Jake, Melanie and Jacob all looked in surprise in the direction from which the attack had come from. They saw a girl who seemed to be about as old as they were. She was wearing a white swimming suit with blue stripes and a light-blue jacket. She tossed another pokéball into the air, "Come on out Lanturn! It's your turn! Use Thunderbolt!"

The Team Plasma grunts watched with their mouths wide open as all of their pokémon were knocked out after the girl's Lanturn carried out its trainer's order and used Thunderbolt. After all water is quite a good electricity conductor so it only took one attack to hit all of their pokémon. "You've gotta be kidding me!" exclaimed one of them in shock.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" said the girl as she returned her Lanturn into its pokéball, leaving only Starmie outside. "You know what they call people like you? Pests!"

"Listen missy, you better go back to your little swimming squad and stay out of Team Plasma's way!" said one of the Team Plasma grunts angrily as he took out another pokéball. "I'll show you! Go, Zebstrika!"

"An electric type… How predictable…" the girl didn't seem too worried about the type disadvantage she was now at. "Starmie, return!" She brought out another pokéball. "Quagsire, come out!"

"Zebstrika, use Shock Wave!"

"Isn't she going to have her pokémon dodge that?" asked Melanie, looking at Jacob.

Quagsire however didn't seem affected by the electric type move at all. "What?!" exclaimed the Team Plasma grunt in surprise.

"Smooth move, Einstein…" said the girl as she let out a yawn of boredom, "Quagsire is also a ground-type pokémon. You should do some research on the pokémon that are common in the region you want to steal from…"

"You're going to have to do better than that little girl!" said another Team Plasma grunt as he too took out a pokéball. "Go, Simisage!"

"My oh my, you certainly did come prepared for a scenario where I show up…" again the girl didn't look too impressed.

"Simisage, use Vine-"

"Quagsire, use Blizzard!"

"Well, so much for type advantages…" said Jake to himself with a smirk as he watched the ice-type move knock out the Simisage. Watching how that trainer was able to overcome the only 2 types that water-type pokémon were weak against was quite impressive.

"Give back all the pokémon you stole." said the girl in a rather demanding tone.

"Stupid Gym Leaders! Always getting in the way!" Team Plasma, as all of you who ever played Black & White know, doesn't really like Gym Leaders. "Whatever, you can take the useless pokémon back! We can always steal some more! Mark my words: one day you and the other Gym Leaders will pay for opposing Team Plasma!" With that the Team Plasma grunts took their own pokémon and made their escape by jumping over the fence and running away in the direction of Saffron City.

"Hey, they're getting away!" said Jake, and was about to run off when Misty stopped him.

"Let them go." she said, "I contacted Sabrina, the Gym Leader from Saffron City. She and the police will be waiting for them there." **(A/N: For your information all the Gym Leaders look exactly like they do in HeartGold / SoulSilver. I'll do my best to also stick to the pokémon teams they have in HeartGold / SoulSilver) **"Quagsire, return!"

"That was so cool!" said Melanie, finally putting an end to the rather tense mood. "There were so many of them, but you defeated them all!" Now that the danger was over Melanie seemed to have returned to her typical behavior. "Oh, don't get me started on the looks on their faces!"

"So you're the Gym Leader here in Cerulean City?" asked Jacob, returning his pokémon to their pokéballs.

"Yep! I'm Misty!" She smiled at the three trainers in front of her. "Thank you, by the way, for stalling them and buying some time for me to get here."

"Well, to be honest we were lucky that you showed up…" said Jake as he rubbed the back of his head with a hand. It didn't feel too good to admit that they would have lost to those Team Plasma thugs if it weren't for her but honesty was more important than pride in his opinion.

"You three are new faces," said Misty, "I can only assume that you're here to challenge my gym."

"Well, maybe…" said Jacob, exchanging a few nervous glances with Melanie, "We only began our journey about a week ago…"

"Yeah, we don't think we're ready to take on a Gym Leader yet…" said Melanie, smiling sheepishly.

"And to think that I was planning to use Bulbasaur…" added Jacob after a short silence. Obviously he was going to have to train hard in order to be able to take on a trainer like Misty. It seemed like she had her own ways to deal even with pokémon that have a type advantage over water-types. "We did plan to stop by at the gym and take a look, however."

"Not a problem! I'll be happy to show you the gym!" said Misty with a smile. "I'm sure you can also get some training there, too!"

"Really?" asked Jacob, surprised. "You'll help us train even though our goal is to eventually challenge you?"

"Hey, I'm a Gym Leader! It's what we do!" There was a short silence during which Jacob and Melanie exchanged a few words quietly. Jake was unable to hear what they were saying but he could tell that they were both excited about the idea of training with Misty. "But first things first," she went over to the bags filled with pokéballs that Team Plasma left behind and picked up one of them, "I'm sure some of the trainers who had left their pokémon here already heard of what has happened and are quite worried. I say let's take all these pokémon to the pokémon center and make an announcement so that the trainers will know to search for their pokémon there. Some of the pokémon might be hurt, so the pokémon center will be the best place for us to take these pokémon to."

"Good idea. Here, let me give you a hand." said Jake, walking over and picking up the other bag.

Jake woke up the following morning to find out that Jacob had already left. He must have gotten too excited about going to Misty's gym that it made him too impatient to wait for Jake to wake up. At least he allowed him to continue sleeping for as long as he wanted to. It was possible that Jacob thought that Jake wouldn't want to also go to the gym. After helping Misty take the stolen pokémon to the nearest pokémon center yesterday Jake, Jacob and Melanie found an inn to spend the night at. Jake and Jacob rented a room for the night together while Melanie rented the room next door. It wasn't until Melanie had fallen asleep that Jake and Jacob were able to get some shuteye because she didn't try to keep quiet while telling her Caterpie how cute she thought he was until a rather late hour.

Jake stretched and let out a comforted sigh as he continued to lie on the bed. It felt so good to sleep on an actual bed after 7 years. He took a look at the inn room he and Jacob had rented and smiled when he realized that it had the size of an actual room. That small bedroom in the apartment he used to live in for the past 7 years was almost as small as a closet, so it was obviously nothing in comparison to the inn he was now staying in.

Charmander was sleepily resting on an improvised pillow which was covered by a fireproof cloth and Vulpix was still fast asleep. Jake couldn't help but smile as he saw how the fox-like pokémon was peacefully sleeping against him as if he were a pillow. Vulpix was so warm and fluffy that her cuteness was irresistible.

As much as Jake didn't mind staying in bed all day like a lazy bum he was also quite eager to go to the pokémon gym. He couldn't stop thinking about the way Misty had won against those Team Plasma grunts without any difficulty even though she had a clear type disadvantage. It made him realize that type advantages are not the only important thing when it comes to pokémon battles. Now he was actually eager to just go to Misty's gym and miserably lose to some of the trainers there. His biggest challenge was going to be dealing with water-type pokémon and whatever other types that had an advantage over fire-types, so he might as well start working on that by facing some water-type trainers. Now that he was thinking about it, he still didn't know the weaknesses and strengths of fire-types. He really needed to get to know the pros and cons.

After a short moment of thinking his eyes fell on something that lay on Jacob's bed: Jacob's pokédex. Jacob must have accidentally left it behind. "Hmm…" he stared at the electronic encyclopedia for a moment before making up his mind. When Jake set his mind on something there was no stopping him from finding out everything about it or achieving it. "Time to do some research…"

"Okay, so fire-type pokémon are weak against water, rock and ground type moves." said Jake to himself after a while. It took him some time to figure out how to turn on the pokédex and work with it but it turned out to not be as complicated as he had expected it to be. "Fire-type moves are strong against ice, bug, grass and steel type pokémon and aren't very effective against dragon, rock, water and other fire type pokémon." He fell silent for a while and continued looking through Jacob's pokédex for more information that might be useful. "There has to be some way to deal with water, rock and ground types just like Misty dealt with grass and electric types yesterday…" He was more than certain that there was a way to overcome the weaknesses of fire-type pokémon, but the pokédex didn't seem to have any information on how to do that. "I guess I'll just have to find out for myself." Facing rock, ground and water types was obviously the best way to learn how to deal with them. Sure, he would probably lose (a lot) at first, but it was the best way to learn and get better.

"_Char!"_ Jake looked over his shoulder and saw that both Charmander and Vulpix were fully awake and that they were standing behind him while curiously trying to figure out what he was up to.

"I can't believe both of you slept longer than _I_ did." he said with a chuckle, smiling and petting both of them as he did. "Alright, listen up." Time for a motivational conversation! "In order to overcome our greatest weaknesses we're going to have to face them again and again. Now I know that we'll probably lose… a lot, and that it will be very difficult at first… but I do believe that it will eventually pay off. I don't want to force either one of you to battle for me though, so if you don't want to do this it's fine with me." It did occur to him a while ago that maybe there were some pokémon that didn't want to battle at all, which was why he wanted to make sure not to force either Vulpix or Charmander into doing something they didn't want to.

To his surprise, however, both of them gave him a nod of approval without even thinking about it. "Okay, we're in this together then." The fact that they agreed without hesitation did not mean that he was going to forget to not train them too hard and to give them a rest every now and then. He was still a novice trainer but, in his opinion, treating your pokémon properly seemed like something one should know even without experience.

Jake was about to say something else when his Xtransceiver began ringing. He answered the call and Jacob's image appeared on the screen. "Oh good, you're awake!" said Jacob, "Listen, you have to come over here, this place is so cool!"

"I was, in fact, about to make my way there right now." said Jake as he organized his backpack, putting a few healing items and the pokémon egg in it because he didn't want to leave the egg on its own.

"By the way, I think I accidentally forgot my pokédex on my bed. Can you fetch it from me?"

"Yeah, I'll get it for you." Jake was about to hang up the call but then he said something else. "Oh, Jacob?"

"Yes?"

"If Misty's not busy, can you please tell her that I'd like to have a battle with her?"

Jacob seemed to stare at him for a rather long moment before finally making his answer. "What?" There was another long pause. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. I'm also sober, so don't even ask."

"Your pokémon are both fire-types, you'll lose to a water-type trainer like her for sure!"

Jake let out a sigh. "That's the point, Jacob…" He had no doubt that Misty was going to win the battle in less than half a minute, but he wasn't planning on winning. His goal was to train and to learn. "There are other water-type trainers there as well, right?"

"Um… Yes." said Jacob, still sounding quite confused.

"Good. I want to battle them as well."

Jacob let out a sigh, "Honestly Jake, sometimes I just don't understand you."

"It's a good thing I'm not your girlfriend then." Jake often liked messing with his friend like that.

"What?"

"You just said you don't understand me, and if I were your girlfriend that would have caused a serious problem in our relationship."

"…" Jacob frowned. He hated it whenever he ended up falling for one of Jake's little jokes like that.

"Sorry Jacob, you just make it too easy." said Jake before waving goodbye with his hand in a taunting manner and hanging up the call. He put his backpack on his back before looking at Charmander and Vulpix. The two pokémon seemed quite eager to hit the road. "Alright, let's roll."

**A/N: I did the proofreading of this chapter while having quite a horrible headache, so please excuse me if I missed a typo or something. Sorry.**


	11. Ice Cream

**A/N: From now on I'm going to be using footnotes accompanied by an asterisk ( ********* for example). I was told that it makes the text look better and I can't help but agree. I'll use footnotes from now on unless I want to tell you to listen to a piece of soundtrack from the games. Keep an eye out for those asterisks from now on.**

It was only after an entire day of training that Jake and Jacob left Misty's gym. Melanie was not with them, having left some time earlier with the hope of actually getting to see some new pokémon at the daycare. However, because of the events of the previous evening, many people were quite reluctant about leaving their pokémon at that daycare. So the daycare was empty and Melanie came back in a rather depressed mood. She had been so excited about seeing all sorts of pokémon but she didn't get to see even a single one thanks to Team Plasma. When Jake and Jacob came across her immediately after leaving the gym she said that she was going to retire to her room early. While she did look quite sad and upset, both Jake and Jacob were quite certain that she would wake up the following day feeling much better.

Jacob found himself looking at his friend in confusion. As you may have guessed Jake wasn't very successful in actually putting up much of a fight against even the newest member of Misty's gym. Not only did he have a clear type disadvantage but he was also quite an inexperienced trainer, having not had an actual battle before other than that one battle with Jacob which Brad had cut short by challenging Jacob to a rematch. However, Jake didn't seem to be upset at all at the fact that he had lost so many times in just a single day. In fact he seemed rather pleased, which was what made Jacob so confused.

"I feel like I've just had a refreshing swim in that giant pool in the gym." said Jake as he and Jacob walked down the street. Don't get the wrong impression: he wasn't wet at all. It was just his way of saying that he was satisfied with the training he and his pokémon had had at the pokémon gym.

"I knew that stopping by at the gym would be worth it." said Jacob as he kept an eye out for a pokémon center. "You seem quite happy for someone who lost over and over again." he added after a short silence.

Jake smiled, "I already feel like a completely different trainer." True, he wasn't a veteran after just one day of training at a pokémon gym, but he was already feeling as if he was no longer the clueless and completely inexperienced trainer he had been just a few hours ago. "Did you see me and my pokémon back there? I mean yeah, we lost the first few battles quite quickly but after a while we were suddenly able to hold out a little longer and to inflict some more damage."

"Sorry Jake, I was quite busy myself." said Jacob with a sheepish smile.

Jake was certainly feeling like he made significant progress thanks to the time spent in the gym. "Well I _know_ that the training today has paid off." He smiled once more before looking at Charmander and Vulpix. The two pokémon were sleeping in his arms, looking quite worn-out. They were obviously tired from all the training and Jake was planning to give both of them a well-deserved and long rest. "You two were great." he said and then looked at Jacob. "Are you sure you remember where the pokémon center is?"

"Yes, it's right around the corner."

"Thank you for waiting," said one of the nurses at the pokémon center some time later as she returned Jake and Jacob their pokémon. It didn't take too long this time, seeing how no pokémon was fatally wounded or anything. "Your pokémon are feeling fine." Jake took Charmander and Vulpix and was greeted with warm smiles from both of them. They didn't seem as fatigued as before thanks to the treatment at the pokémon center. It's not like he had any reason to be worried for his pokémon's wellbeing but it was still a relief to see that they were both feeling perfectly fine. Jacob took his pokémon as well, but unlike Jake's pokémon his pokémon were inside their pokéballs. The nurse gave a slight bow, said "we hope to see you again" and walked away.

"Why on earth did she say that?" asked Jake as he and Jacob left the pokémon center. Charmander was now once more on her natural seat on Jake's shoulders and Vulpix was peacefully resting in Jake's arms.

"What do you mean?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow.

"She said 'we hope to see you again'." said Jake, quoting the nurse. "Why would she say something like that in a hospital?" *****

"Beats me." said Jacob with a shrug.

Jake was about to make another remark in that regard but eventually decided not to and the two trainers headed back to the inn they were staying in. The first thing Jake did once they were back in their room was take the egg out of his backpack and have a look at it (after carefully and gently placing Vulpix down on his bed of course). Nothing seemed different about it. "How long does it usually take for a pokémon egg to hatch?" He was obviously dying to see what pokémon was going to hatch from it.

"I don't have a clue." said Jacob, taking his backpack off of his back and putting his hat on the small table that was next to his bed. "I think it differs from one pokémon specie to another."

"Well, I guess I'll have to wait patiently until it hatches." He put the egg down on the bed next to Vulpix and sat down beside the resting pokémon. After a short moment of simply staring at the egg he looked at Charmander who was still sitting on his shoulders. "I think you should sit on it again."

"_Char!_" exclaimed the little pokémon in protest as she jumped off of her trainers shoulders and went to lie down on the improvised pillow made especially for her (the one covered with the fireproof cloth).

"Why don't you sit on it yourself?" asked Jacob with a chuckle.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I might crush it."

"Oh, right…"

Jake looked at Vulpix and got an idea. "Hey, you know what can help your aching muscles?" he asked, getting a confused look from the fox-like pokémon.

"Is it sitting on an egg?" asked Jacob with an amused smirk as he suddenly remembered that Jake's Vulpix was also a female.

"Don't be stupid, Jacob." said Jake as he picked Vulpix up and walked into the bathroom. "What Vulpix needs to feel better is a hot bath."

"_Vulpix?_" asked the pokémon in confusion.

"What?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. See, one time a few months ago there was this show about pokémon on TV," said Jake as he opened the bathtub's faucet.

"You were watching something about pokémon on TV?"

"You didn't let me finish." said Jake with a sigh. "There was this show about pokémon on TV and I couldn't find the remote."

"I see. So that's where you got that idea from."

"Well you can say whatever you want. Vulpix likes it." said Jake after a while as he closed the faucet and came out of the bathroom. "I'd let Charmander take a hot bath too but that might be a little, um… dangerous." He picked Charmander up and sat down next to Jacob.

"She seems happy enough with just having you hold her." said Jacob as he looked at Charmander who seemed to be rather comfortable. "Can Vulpix swim?"

"Um… I think so." said Jake, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't fill the bathtub with too much water either way." There was a short silence. "So, after being at the gym for an entire day I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of things." Now that he had spent an entire day facing water-type trainers he was starting to get an idea of the way they liked to battle. "I think we should travel to the next city. Then we can also face trainers with other pokémon types." It was still his main goal to learn how to deal with water, rock and ground type pokémon but in order to do that he was going to have to leave Cerulean City at some point. Since he got a taste of facing water-type pokémon while training at Misty's gym he felt like he was ready to go out and continue practicing that in other places without the tips and guidance of Misty and the other trainers from her gym.

"Sounds like a good idea." said Jacob. "If I want to prepare for my first gym battle I need to face different trainers who have different types of pokémon with them. I should also catch some more pokémon."

"Okay, then it's settled. What's the closest city we can go to?"

"Saffron City."

_The following day_

"I sure hope we don't have to cross anymore caves." said Jake hopefully as he, Jacob and Melanie walked through the street.

"Don't worry about it. Saffron City is actually quite close to Cerulean. It should take us an hour or two to get there by foot."

"Listen, yesterday I was fiddling with your pokédex before I brought it to you." said Jake after a short silence. "It said that some fire-type pokémon like Vulpix can only evolve when exposed to something called a Fire Stone."

"Yes, that's true." said Jacob, "Although it's best to train these types of pokémon before evolving them so that they can learn new moves."

"I see. Where can you find Fire Stones?"

"Ooh, I know!" exclaimed Melanie. The brunette at first considered staying in Cerulean City with the hope of eventually getting to see new types of pokémon at the daycare. However she decided to come along with Jake and Jacob when Jake said that continuing to travel would allow her to meet new pokémon as well. "There's this enormous shopping center in Celadon City where they sell a lot of useful items. You can find Leaf, Water, Fire and Thunder Stones there as well."

"What other items can you find there?" asked Jacob, becoming curious all of a sudden.

"You can find TMs, different kinds of pokéballs or battle items!" said Melanie with a smile.

"Sounds like it's worth going there."

"Of course! You can get there from Saffron City. In fact, Celadon and Saffron are the two closest-to-each-other cities in the entire Kanto region!"

"If I meet a lot of trainers on the way and get to battle them I think I just might give it a shot and try to earn my first Gym Badge." said Jacob after a short moment of thinking. He looked at Melanie, "There's a pokémon gym in Celadon City, right?" The brunette nodded.

"I don't mind going to Celadon City." said Jake with a shrug. The more time he'll spend between cities = the more he'll get to battle different trainers and improve. "We can stop at that shopping center when we get there." He knew that Vulpix was far from ready to evolve but he could still buy a few Fire Stones and keep them for later. Waiting for Vulpix to feel ready to evolve was also something he had to bring into consideration.

"Before we leave," said Jacob, "I'd like to stop at a pokémart to buy a couple of things."

"Ooh, I want to get a few things too!"

"You two go without me." said Jake as something down the street caught his eye.

"You're not coming with us?"

"I don't need anything from the pokémart." said Jake as he continued to stare at that thing in the distance: an ice cream stand. "I want some ice cream."

"Ice cream?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, ice cream." said Jake as he looked at his friend. "Can't I buy some ice cream?" The last time he had eaten ice cream was 7 years ago. After his parents and sister died he had to economize and manage his money carefully, and that job at the restaurant didn't offer him a very high salary to begin with. "It's been years since I last ate some ice cream… Literally…" Now that he was thinking about it it's been years since he last got to eat French fries or anything else that was tasty and wasn't a toast / an omelet / cereal.

"Of course you can, it's just, well… random."

The small group parted. Jacob and Melanie went to look for the nearest pokémart and Jake made his way towards the ice cream stand. "Wait 'till you two get to taste ice cream. It's delicious." he said to Charmander (who was sitting on his shoulders, as usual) and to Vulpix (who he was carrying in his arms, as usual). Luckily there wasn't a long line in front of the ice cream stand, so after perhaps a minute or two of waiting he found himself standing in front of a row of different flavors of ice cream.

This was going to be his first ice cream in years. It had to be the most amazing ice cream in the entire universe. "Do you happen to have a large glass or something?" Jake asked the man at the stand, noticing that the cones weren't very large. The man nodded and brought forward a bowl. "Excellent." He took in a deep breath, "I want Vanilla, Chocolate, Banana, Bubble Gum, Lemon, Hazelnut, Mango, Marshmallow, Tutti Frutti, Maple, Black Cherry, Cherry Italia, Cherry Mania, Apple, Apple & Cinammon, Apple & Cranberry, Apple Crumble AND… Strawberry." ******

"I sure hope Jacob and Melanie aren't in a hurry to leave the city…" said Jake to himself (and to Charmander and Vulpix) as he sat down on a bench with what had to be the largest ice cream anybody has ever ordered, "This might take a while!" Charmander and Vulpix both sat next to him on the bench. He gave them a spoonful of ice cream every now and then, much to their content. Since Jake hadn't eaten ice cream in the past 7 years it felt like he was eating ice cream for the first time. But, of course, whenever Jake is having a good time, Brad has to show up and ruin it.

"Hey, Jakey!"

"Good heavens, NO!" Jake placed his spoon in the bowl of ice cream and looked up at Brad, who was standing in front of him. "Why on earth are you here? Why are you always near me?!" There was a short pause. "I don't like you! The only thing I want that is anywhere close to having any sort of interaction with you is doing horrible things to you in your sleep!"

"…"

"I'm trying to enjoy this enormous bowl of ice cream." He took in a deep breath, as if to calm himself down and to mentally prepare himself for what Brad was about to say. "What do you want?"

"Where's your stupid friend? This time I'll beat him!"

"He's not here. Go away."

Brad said something else but Jake didn't pay attention to him because something caught his eye. It was a pokémon with bright-brown fur that seemed to have traits of a rabbit, a fox, a dog and a cat. (In other words: it's an Eevee). The pokémon seemed to be sniffing around for something and it eventually came to a stop in front of an ice cream cone that was leaning against another bench. The poor little fellow was probably hungry! However, when Eevee tried to eat the ice cream, he accidentally knocked the cone over, spilling all the ice cream that was inside. Jake put the bowl of ice cream on the bench and stood up when he saw tears come to the little pokémon's eyes.

"Oh, don't cry!" he said as he walked over to Eevee, completely ignoring Brad who was still there (unfortunately).

"Hey, I'm still talking to you here!" said Brad, obviously upset.

Jake picked Eevee up in his arms, much to the little pokémon's surprise and dismay. "Please don't cry, you can have some of my ice cream!"

"Is that an Eevee?!" asked Brad in surprise as Jake sat back down on the bench while holding the little pokémon in his arms. Brad, unlike Jake, obviously knew the potential an Eevee had (seeing how an Eevee can evolve into one of seven different pokémon).

Eevee was still restlessly squirming in Jake's arms and trying to break free from his grip but Jake didn't seem to really care. He continued holding the pokémon with one hand while bringing over the bowl of ice cream with the other. "Here you go little guy!" he said with a friendly smile as he held the ice cream in front of Eevee. The pokémon calmed down a little upon seeing the bowl filled with ice cream and he looked at Jake with his large and still watery eyes, as if silently asking for permission. "Go right ahead!"

"_Vee!_" The little pokémon began licking the ice cream, looking quite happy.

"Poor little guy, you must have been starving!"

Brad grinned, "I'm totally going to catch this-"

"You're no fire-type pokémon," said Jake, having not paid any attention to Brad at all, "but you're simply adorable!" he brought out a pokéball from his backpack, "I think I'd like to keep you!"

"Hey, this Eevee's mine!"

Jake gently dropped the pokéball on the distracted pokémon with a smile. "In you go!"

Brad frowned for a moment but he didn't seem to be too upset at first. "You make me laugh Jake. If you want to catch a pokémon you have to-"

"Well, that was easy!" said Jake as he smiled at the pokéball which was no longer shaking, indicating that the pokémon inside it had been successfully captured.

"You're kidding. You're kidding, right?"

Jake looked at Brad, as if only now acknowledging that he was still there. "Oh, you're still here?" He released Eevee from his pokéball and smiled at the pokémon, "You can eat your ice cream if you still want to."

"_Eevee!_" The little pokémon happily turned his attention to the bowl of ice cream.

"I was going to catch that Eevee!"

"Finders keepers losers weepers."

"What?"

"Hey, did I happen to tell you that Jacob has a Gym Badge already?" Yes, Jake knew that Jacob still hasn't won himself a Gym Badge yet, but he needed some way to get Brad to leave him alone.

"What?!"

"Yes."

"Well, if _he_ was able to beat the Gym Leader here then I'll be able to do it for sure! I'm not going to let him get ahead of me!" With that Brad took off in the direction of Misty's gym.

Jake couldn't help but snicker. That was going keep Brad occupied for a while. Not to mention that Misty was going to beat Brad for sure, something that'll make Brad very upset. "And off he goes…" he said as Charmander and Vulpix chuckled, "What an idiot."

******* That really is stupid. Maybe Nintendo didn't think that one through.**

******** I don't know most of these flavors. I just went online, found a list of flavors and kind of placed most of them in here =O**


	12. Celadon City's Fountain

**A/N: I'd like to take a moment to thank those of you who are following the story / those of you who added it to your favorites and especially to those of you who write a review every now and then. If you've ever written a story on this website before then you probably know that there's nothing that makes you feel like writing your next chapter more than getting reviews and having people follow your story. My usual 'writing pace' is one chapter per week but you probably did notice that chapters have been coming out in a slightly faster pace recently and it's all thanks to the support this story's been getting. My previous story (not a Pokémon story) had twice as many chapters as this story has so far but this story already has more followers and more favorites, so thank you all very much!**

"Alright, how am I going to do this?" mumbled Jake to himself as he stood in front of the same bench from before and stared at the three pokémon that were sitting on it and staring up at him. Well, Charmander and Vulpix were staring at him; Eevee was busier looking at Vulpix. "Let's see…" he brought a hand to his chin and thought for a moment before picking Charmander up and placing her on his shoulders as usual, "Hmm… It's getting harder to carry all of you at the same time." He could always return his pokémon into their pokéballs but there was something about the idea of a pokémon being inside a pokéball without the ability of getting out until its trainer felt like it that he just couldn't help but detest. A pokémon, in his opinion, deserved to be outside in the fresh air not just when it was time for a pokémon battle or for some training.

"I suppose I can carry Vulpix in one hand and Eevee in the other, but I doubt either of us will be very comfortable then." He thought about it for a few more seconds. "Know what, you can all walk with me. Jacob said Saffron City isn't very far from here and, after all, I don't walk as fast as Melanie does sometimes so you three shouldn't have a problem keeping up with me." He placed Charmander back down on the bench, much to the dinosaur-like pokémon's disappointment.

"_Char?_" she asked with a sad expression on her face. Ever since leaving Pewter City she had grown quite fond of sitting on her trainer's shoulders all the time.

"What do you want?" asked Jake with a blank expression.

"_Charmander!_" exclaimed Charmander, giving her trainer those big puppy eyes.

Jake seemed completely unaffected by the display of cuteness. "Sorry Charmander, no special treatment." Charmander's fake sad expression disappeared and she pouted. "Maybe you can try convincing Melanie's Charmander to carry you on his back. He might be up for it if you give him a kiss on the cheek. Or a lick. I'm not sure how it works with you pokémon." added Jake with a chuckle, much to Charmander's annoyance. "Is this a blush I see before me?" Charmander frowned and turned away, causing Jake to chuckle once again. "Alright, let's get going."

It took Jake a while to find the pokémart Jacob and Melanie had gone to. When he entered the store he saw that Jacob and Melanie were already finished looking around and that they were about to pay for their items at the cash register. Excited to show them the Eevee he had captured, he picked the little Eevee up and his arms and approached them. "Hey guys, check out this cute little guy."

The two trainers turned to face him, and Melanie immediately let out a gasp upon setting her eyes on Eevee. "AWWWWWW, LOOK AT HIM!" she exclaimed, taking the little pokémon from Jake. "He's sooooo cute and fluffy!" She gave Eevee a very tight hug, much to Eevee's discomfort (which was noticeable because of the way he began to restlessly squirm). For a moment Jake considered taking Eevee from her but he realized that if Melanie's Caterpie could survive those hugs then Eevee wasn't going to have a problem living through them.

"Where did you find an Eevee?" asked Jacob, less curious about how cute the pokémon was and more curious about where did he come from.

"I was eating my ice cream and he just wandered over." said Jake with a shrug. "He was hungry so I fed him some ice cream. Then I caught him."

"You just found an Eevee in the middle of some random street?" Honestly, it was all starting to get old and irritating. Why was Jake always finding rare pokémon without any effort and he (Jacob) wasn't? First Jake found Charmander in the Viridian Forest, which had to be the most unlikely place to find a Charmander at not to mention that they were pretty rare in the wild to begin with. Then he found a random pokémon egg in the middle of a cave and now he had this Eevee. Well, there was actually no guaranteeing that a rare pokémon was going to hatch from the egg Jake had found, but finding an egg just lying around like that was also something that doesn't happen every day. "That's not fair. Why can't _I_ find Charmanders and Eevees?"

Jake shrugged. "Well if it makes you feel any better next time I see an injured pokémon in the Viridian forest I'll just leave it there. Also I'll make sure to leave hungry pokémon in the street so that they can look for food in a trash can."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know, I was just messing with you. Again." Jacob frowned. "By the way Brad's here. Another reason I caught Eevee was to stop Brad from catching him himself."

"Eww, _he_'s here?" asked Melanie with annoyance. "Don't worry Eevee, I'll protect you!" with that she gave the tiny pokémon another tight hug.

"Then how come he didn't follow you here?" asked Jacob, curious. He was clearly not in the mood to see Brad.

"I told him that you've already won a Gym Badge."

"…But I didn't." said Jacob with a raised eyebrow.

"I know. Misty should keep him busy for a while. We all know he won't be able to beat her and that he's stubborn, so it'll be a day or two at least before he gives up and starts following us again."

"You have done well." said Melanie with a giggle as she finally placed Eevee down. Eevee, still a little taken aback by Melanie's display of affection, ran over and hid behind Jake's legs.

"We should probably leave now." said Jacob with a chuckle, "Just to be on the safe side."

"Yippie! Let's go!" exclaimed Melanie as she ran and came to a stop by the exit of the pokémart. "Follow my lead everybody!" she ran outside. This was followed by a very loud noise.

"I think she just fell down the stairs."

"I'm okay!"

On the way to Saffron City, unlike when Jake and Jacob headed to Cerulean City from Pewter City, the group ran into quite a few pokémon trainers. Battling with Eevee was quite different from battling with Charmander or Vulpix seeing how Eevee, unlike the two fire-types, had to rely only on physical attacks. Regardless of that, Jake and the others realized very quickly that the training in Misty's gym had paid off more than they thought it would. While Jake wasn't too bothered at having lost to all the trainers in Misty's gym he had to admit that it felt good to actually win a pokémon battle. The victories certainly made his pokémon seem satisfied, which was also good.

Stopping every once in a while to have a pokémon battle certainly did delay them on their way to the next city, but one of the main reasons they have decided to leave Cerulean City to begin with was so that they could meet different trainers with different types of pokémon.

"What's that?" asked Jacob at some point as he and the others were walking down the road.

"What's what?"

"Over there, in the tall grass." said Jacob as he pointed at a patch of tall grass at the side of the road. "I bet it's a wild pokémon." He smiled and took out Bulbasaur's pokéball before releasing the grass-type pokémon. "I'm going to catch it."

Jake, realizing that this might take a while, went over to a nearby tree and sat down in the shade with his pokémon. Melanie decided she wanted to get a close look and stayed where she was. "I hope it's a cute one!"

"Alright Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf, aim at the rustling grass over there!" The rustling in the grass stopped for a few seconds after Bulbasaur carried out his trainer's command. After a few seconds an enraged looking Pidgeotto flew into the sky, immediately setting its eyes on Jacob and Bulbasaur. "Sweet, it's a Pidgeotto!"

"Eeep, it looks mean!" said Melanie as she ran over to where Jake was and sitting down there as well. "It's okay Jacob; I'll cheer for you from way over here where it's safe!" However she was soon once again busy hugging Jake's Eevee.

Realizing the type disadvantage he was at, Jacob had Bulbasaur step aside and brought out Bronzor instead. Pidgeotto let out a battle cry (or whatever the hell it's called when it comes to birds) and dived towards the steel-type pokémon. "Quickly, Bronzor, use Iron Defense!" Not only are flying-type moves not very effective against steel types, but steel-type pokémon have a very high physical defense to begin with. So, with the addition of Iron Defense, Bronzor was almost completely unaffected. The wild Pidgeotto flew back into the sky, obviously with the intention of attacking once again. "Now use Metal Sound!"

Melanie and Jake as well as Jake's pokémon found themselves covering their ears as a result of Bronzor's Metal Sound move. "Was that really necessary?!" asked Melanie, annoyed at the fact that she had to release Eevee in order to cover her ears, which resulted with him running away from her again.

"Yes!" said Jacob as he looked at them over his shoulder, "It lowers special defense!" He turned his attention back to the wild Pidgeotto. "Bronzor, use Confusion!" After that he proceeded to successfully capture the wild pokémon. "Alright, way to go Bronzor! You were awesome!"

"Yay!" said Melanie, having successfully laid her hands on Eevee again.

"Happy birthday." said Jake with a bored expression.

"It's not my birthday." said Jacob after picking up the pokéball which contained his newly caught Pidgeotto.

"I know."

_Later, at a pokémon center in Saffron City_

"Alright, so now that are pokémon have had a good rest we can move on to Celadon City." said Jacob as he, Jake and Melanie left the pokémon center. It was afternoon by then, which meant that they still had time to get to Celadon City and find a place to spend the night at. Then, in the morning, he could go look for the Celadon Gym as well as that department store Melanie had mentioned earlier.

"Actually," said Melanie, "I don't think I'll be coming to Celadon City with you."

"I thought you said you also wanted to have a look around that department store." said Jacob, confused.

"Obviously, but I think the shopping can wait." said Melanie with a smile. "I want to go to Vermilion City first."

"What's in Vermilion City?" asked Jake.

"There's an electric-type gym there." said Melanie with a determined expression. "After all Jacob, I don't want you to have more Gym Badges than me!" Jake had almost completely forgotten that Melanie was Jacob's rival because of how friendly she was. "And with my Onix there's no way I'm going to lose in an electric-type gym!"

"Well, you can't know that for sure." said Jacob. He didn't know the Gym Leader from Vermilion City but he knew that the Gym Leader might have a couple of tricks up his sleeve for facing a ground-type pokémon like Onix.

"I'm going to try anyway!" said Melanie, looking completely confident. "Worst case scenario – I'll lose and try again. It's no big deal!"

"Well, I guess you're right." said Jacob with a smile.

"I should go so that I can make it there before nightfall!" she turned around and took off towards Vermilion City which was located to the south of Saffron City. After taking a few steps she came to a stop and looked at Jacob once again. "After you win your first Badge as well I want to have another battle with you!"

"I'll look forward to it. Next time I'll win though!"

Melanie giggled. "Maybe. Maybe not. Bye-bye!"

"So…" said Jake as he watched Melanie run off with incredible speed, "Melanie won the last time you two battled?"

"Well, it was right after we had received our first pokémon so we were both completely inexperienced. She had a type advantage."

"So where's Celadon City?"

"This way. Let's get going."

"So have you made up your mind what to evolve Eevee into?" asked Jacob sometime later as he and Jake made their way towards Celadon City.

"What do you mean?" asked Jake, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Eevee is called the 'Evolution Pokémon'." Jacob went ahead and took out his pokédex. "An Eevee can evolve into 7 different pokémon. They're called 'Eeveelutions'." He chuckled.

"How clever."

"Here, take a look." He began showing Jake information about each Eeveelution. "There's water, ice, grass, psychic, electric, fire and dark."

"That's an easy choice." said Jake with a smile. "Well, if Eevee won't mind. He might want to evolve into something else." Eevee was in his pokéball at the moment, having fallen asleep back at the pokémon center in Saffron City.

Jacob sighed. "Are you sure you don't want to consider-"

"No."

"I still think you need to think about other types of-"

"No."

"Fine." said Jacob, defeated.

Having not run into any trainers on the way, Jake and Jacob arrived at Celadon quite earlier than expected. Since it was still early evening, they decided to go to the department store right away so to not waste time on that tomorrow. Then Jacob will be able to look for the Pokémon Gym and to challenge the Gym Leader. Celadon City was much larger than Pewter City was but finding the large pokémart they were looking for wasn't hard because it was located inside a very tall building. ***** "Well, we're here." said Jake, looking around the lobby which was crowded with people who were probably pokémon trainers just like Jacob and Jake were. "Melanie was right, this place really is big."

"Yes, it is." said Jacob with a smile.

Jake placed Charmander on his shoulders and held Vulpix in his arms. He didn't want them to accidentally get lost in a place like this. Eevee was still sleeping the last time Jake checked, so he decided to leave him inside the pokéball for the time being. "Come on, let's have a look around."

There were all sorts of things available in each floor of the pokémart. Jacob took a big interest when they arrived at the floor selling Battle Items and an even bigger interest when they arrived at the floor selling Technical Machines. Eventually they found the store that sold Fire, Water and Thunder Stones. Jake bought 3 Fire Stones; one for when Vulpix is ready to evolve and two more just in case he might need them in the future. As he was about to pay for them at the cash register he noticed that there were two ladies a little older than him and Jacob staring at him from the other side of the floor. "Hey, excuse me," he said, looking at the cashier. "Do you have any idea who these two women over there are?"

The cashier thought for a moment. "If I'm not mistaken," he said, "I think they're a part of the Pokémon Gym here in Celadon."

"And what could they possibly want?" It almost seemed as if they were glaring in his direction.

"The Celadon Gym is a Gym that specializes in grass-type pokémon." said the cashier. "Grass-type trainers aren't very fond of fire-type pokémon."

"I see." After all Jake did have a fire-type pokémon sitting on his shoulders and another one in his arms. "Well that explains it." After that he paid for the Fire Stones.

"Thank you for your purchase. Please come again sometime soon."

The following day Jake and Jacob went out with the intention of finding the Celadon Gym. "Well, someone's certainly excited." said Jake as Jacob walked restlessly beside him.

"Obviously! This is going to be my first Gym Battle!"

"Well stop twitching and talking like that. You're starting to look like Melanie." He looked at Charmander, Vulpix and Eevee who were walking alongside him. "If we see those two trainers from the pokémart yesterday try not to scare the living hell out of them, okay?" He couldn't understand what another trainer might find intimidating about Charmander's cute face or Vulpix's fluffiness, but that wasn't important. "Eevee, are you paying attention to what I'm saying?" he asked, noticing that Eevee was once again staring at Vulpix. True, Eevee wasn't a fire-type pokémon, but still.

"Looks like somebody finds Vulpix a little more interesting." said Jacob with a chuckle.

"Ugh, whatever."

They looked around the city in search of the Gym but they couldn't find it anywhere. Celadon City surely was a very big place. "This is getting frustrating…" said Jacob at some point.

Jake then noticed fountain in what appeared to be the city square. ****** It wasn't the fountain that caught his attention though. There were two girls standing by the fountain who seemed to be as old as him and Jacob. The first one had black hair and was wearing a yellow kimono with what appeared to be red illustrations of pokéballs and maple leaves. The second one was wearing a short white and light-blue dress with an orange ribbon on it and she had light-brown hair. She looked like an angel! "Hey, I have an idea." said Jake to Jacob. "Why don't we ask these two nice ladies over there if they know where the gym is?" Without really waiting for Jacob to answer he walked in the direction of the fountain.

"Hey, wait for me!"

They approached the two, who appeared to be in the middle of a conversation.

"So we agreed that the fancy light blue outfit with the cape over it won't work." said the girl in the yellow kimono.

"Yes…" said the other. She had a rather quiet and gentle voice.

"So instead," said the latter, "how about a black ninja outfit with a pink cape over it?"

"What? That's also embarrassing!"

"I see. So you think Janine from Fuchsia is also embarrassing…"

"Oh, No! That's not what I meant!" Even when she was upset she had the voice of an angel. "Please stop doing that…" The girl in the kimono chuckled.

"Uh, excuse me?" said Jacob, interrupting the two. "Sorry to interrupt, but do you happen to know where the Celadon Gym is?"

"The Gym?" asked the girl in the kimono, smiling.

"Yes. I'm here to challenge the Gym Leader."

"Oh, um, excuse me?" said the other girl. "The Gym Leader-" She was then interrupted by the girl in the kimono.

"The gym is this way." said the girl in the kimono. "You won't miss it."

"Okay. Thank you very much." Jacob began to walk in the direction of the Gym but came back after a few seconds when he realized that Jake wasn't following him. His friend was still standing next to the fountain. "Come on, let's go!" he pulled Jake by the arm and the two left.

"Um, why didn't you let me tell them that you're…" said the second girl after they were gone.

"I don't know." said the girl in the kimono with a shrug. "Well, it looks like I should get going. Will you come with me?"

"I won't mind…" said the latter as they began making their way.

"By the way…" said the girl in the yellow kimono after a short silence, "I'm not completely sure, but I think that that trainer's friend has a little crush on you." She giggled.

Jasmine blushed. "Erika, you're such a loudmouth sometimes…"

******* Since Celadon City is larger than the other cities in Kanto in the games I thought it will make sense to make it larger in here as well.**

********This is the Celadon City's fountain, like in the games.**


	13. Flower Arrangement

**A/N: To shin obin (guest): Starting from generation III there's a fountain in Celadon City which can be found inside the games. In HeartGold / SoulSilver that's where you go to get Erika's phone number in order to schedule a rematch with her (Jasmine's with her there when you do that). You can look up the games' map of the city if you want, but do keep in mind that in this story the cities are much bigger than they are in the games.**

(Tch, I'm actually listening to the theme that plays in Celadon City in FireRed / LeafGreen as I'm writing this)

"I know she said we should head in this direction, but…" said Jacob as he continued looking for the gym with Jake and his pokémon tagging along, "I should have asked her to be more specific…" He let out a sigh. "This is hopeless." They've been looking for the past 20 minutes ever since talking to Erika and Jasmine by the fountain. While Jake didn't seem very troubled, Jacob was starting to wonder whether this huge effort of locating the Gym was worth it. After all he was probably going to lose anyway. While he did know that the Celadon Gym specialized in grass-type pokémon he had no idea what was the Gym Leader's battling style, not to mention that the Gym Leader was probably a much more experienced trainer than he was.

"Yeah, that's truly a shame." said Jake, looking down at the ground as they walked.

Jacob stopped and looked at his friend, raising an eyebrow. "You're supposed to help me look for the Gym. What are you doing?"

"I never said I'd help you look for it." said Jake, obviously annoyed at something.

"Well, is there any good reason for you not to help me look for it?"

"Yes."

Jacob looked surprised. He wasn't really expecting a positive answer. "…And what is that?"

"For dragging me away from the fountain, of course." said Jake, his tone making sound like what he had just said should have been obvious.

"…" Jacob tried to think for a moment before coming to the conclusion that Jake was just trying to mess with him again. "What's your point?"

"How could you do this to me?!" exclaimed Jake all of a sudden in a dramatic manner, "I was busy admiring _her_!" Charmander was the only one other than Jacob who was paying attention to the conversation. Vulpix was busy looking at Eevee with a confused expression as the slightly smaller canine-like pokémon stood in front her while simply wiggling his tail. However he kind of lost his enthusiasm when Vulpix continued to just look at him without making any sort of a response.

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"She was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen and you dragged me away just when I was about to finally say something!"

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "You mean that girl who gave us directions?"

"No, I'm talking about her friend."

"Oh. Well, um… Sorry?"

"Sorry?! She was an angel! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"I… I don't even..." Jacob sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I give up, okay? I'm going to keep looking. Feel free to help me once you stop being so overdramatic."

Jake pouted and continued to silently follow his friend. At some point he came to a stop in front of a rather large building. "Dude, let's go in here!" he said, causing Jacob to stop as well.

"Huh, what's in here?" asked Jacob, confused. Jake ran inside without making an answer. "Hey, wait up!" Both of them didn't notice the sign at the entrance of the building with the symbol of Indigo Plateau on it. *****

The two walked inside and looked around. There were flowers; flowers all over the place. The place certainly didn't look like what it truly was from where Jake and Jacob were standing. "This is perfect!" said Jake with glee, looking cheered up all of a sudden.

Jacob frowned and let out a sigh. "Seriously Jake? I ask you to help me look for the Celadon Gym and instead you drag me into what has to be the biggest flower store I've ever seen?"

Jake looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Who said I was helping you look for the Gym?"

"Then what exactly are you doing?" asked Jacob, his right eye twitching once.

"I'm here to buy an enormous nosegay, go back to the fountain and tell that girl that I like her!"

Jacob face palmed. He face palmed so hard that the sound of his hand hitting his face echoed through the entire building. If murdering wasn't an illegal act he might have ended up strangling him. He was about to leave the building when a man in a white shirt and a tie approached them. "Thank you for coming!" he said, confusing the two trainers. "Before you proceed, please take these two bottles of Fresh Water!"

"Um… Thank you…" said Jacob as he and Jake each took a bottle of water. The man walked away. "What are these for?"

"Maybe it's a way of advertising so that they can sell more flowers." said Jake with a shrug as he restlessly looked around.

Jacob sighed and rolled his eyes. "Just make it quick please."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get this done in a jiffy!"

Jacob let out another sigh. Whenever Jake said that he was going to do something 'in a jiffy' it usually took him a lot of time to get it done. "I hate my life."

"Do you know what that drunken man who lives in that same inn I used to live in always says?"

"What?"

"Get completely wasted to forget all about it or stop complaining."

"…" Jacob frowned. "I don't drink Jake. I'm not even 18."

"I know, neither do I." said Jake as he continued looking around. "Obviously you shouldn't listen to that advice because that guy is drunk literally all the time. What I'm trying to say is that your voice is starting to get annoying."

"Oh, I'm the annoying one?"

"Yes."

"Just get your stupid flowers and let's continue looking for the Gym."

"Well, hello again." said a familiar voice from an inner part of the building. The two trainers looked in the direction of the voice and saw Erika making her way towards them. And Jasmine was with her, too. (Hallelujah! I think…)

"Oh, it's you!" said Jacob, surprised to see her there. "I'm afraid we got lost again… Could you maybe give us a more specific explanation on how to get to the Gym?"

Erika couldn't help but chuckle. Jasmine meanwhile was standing next to her, staring at the floor and saying absolutely nothing. "You're not lost." said Erika with an amused smile. "This _is_ the Celadon Gym."

Jake looked at Jacob, blinked a few times, and then said "See? I found it." It was hard to keep a straight face, but Jacob's reaction made it worth it. He looked at Erika, pretending to ignore the glare Jacob was currently shooting in his direction. "It certainly does look like a grass-type Pokémon Gym." Charmander, Eevee and Vulpix meanwhile were busy looking around at everything. The only thing that might have gone wrong with this was a scenario where Charmander accidentally lit up the whole place with her tail.

"Alright, can you take me to the Gym Leader please?" asked Jacob, deciding to calm down and focus on what was really important. Then, once he and Jake are alone, he will murder him.

"There's no need for that." said Erika. What she enjoyed the most about not letting people realize that she is the Gym Leader was their reaction once they finally did realize who she was. "The Gym Leader of the Celadon Gym just happens to be me." She couldn't help but let out another chuckle at Jacob's reaction. The grass-type Gym Leader looked at the two trainers in front of her. "So, who wishes to be the first to challenge me? It's been a few days since my last challenger." She looked at Jake. "You certainly look like you're ready for this."

Jake doubted that Erika was going to ignore the fact that he had two fire-type pokémon with him. However she didn't seem too irritated or upset like those two trainers Jake saw yesterday at the department store, which was a good thing. He didn't want to end up having a conversation with somebody who was just going to complain about how fire-types had an advantage over grass-types. "Who, me? No, I'm not after Gym Badges. I'm just with him." He pointed at Jacob. "He's your challenger." So far he has met only three Gym Leaders (the other two being Misty and Brock, considering how both he and Jacob didn't know that they were in the presence of another Gym Leader) but he was already starting to notice that there was something much different about them in comparison to other trainers. He was quite unable to put a finger on it though.

Erika seemed a little surprised at Jake's answer for a second back there and maybe even a little disappointed. It was possible that she shared his view on type advantages and that she was looking forward to a battle against types that her pokémon were weak against. "Is that so?" she asked, looking at Jacob.

Jacob nodded after a slight hesitation. "Yes, that is the case. I would like to challenge you."

"Very well. Follow me please. The battlefield where the official Gym Battles take place is right this way." Like Misty's Gym, Erika's Gym was also much bigger on the inside. Being a grass-type Gym, however, it had a completely different design. There wasn't anything that seemed too unusual about the way the Gym looked. The basic way to describe it is to say that there were all kinds of flowers all over the place. That's pretty much it.

Eventually they arrived at their destination, which made Jacob's heart skip a beat. This was it. He was much more nervous about doing this than he had expected he would be. After standing in front of where the match was about to take place without anybody saying anything he looked at Erika, who was also standing completely still. "Uh… Excuse me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." said Erika, as if having just returned to reality from a daydream. "I tend to get easily distracted when there's such a fine weather. It's lovely, isn't it?"

Jacob decided to take a short break from being nervous and looked outside one of the windows. "Yes, it is." He took in a deep breath before turning to face Erika. "I'm sorry; I just realized that I don't even know your name."

"Erika."

"I'm Jacob."

"We may begin whenever you feel ready." said the Gym Leader, walking over to one side of the wide open space and standing there. "We will each use two pokémon and the battle will be decided when both pokémon on either side are no longer able to continue battling."

Jacob nodded. "Sounds good to me." He then began to think which two of his three pokémon would make the best choice for the match as he slowly made his way to the other side of the field.

"Take your time, there's no need to rush." Erika could tell that Jacob's battle with her was going to be his first battle against a Gym Leader so she didn't want to put any pressure on him. She wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere, so there really wasn't any reason to try to get things over with quickly.

Jake and Jasmine meanwhile stood next to the arena. Noticing that his pokémon felt like wondering around, he asked Charmander to stay next to him so that she wouldn't accidentally set the whole place on fire. As for Eevee and Vulpix, he didn't mind if they walked around as long as they wouldn't interrupt the battle or go too far.

Eevee tried to once again approach Vulpix but she was so busy looking around and sniffing everything that he ended up walking over to his trainer once again with a disappointed expression on his face. He came to a stop next to Jasmine, who was silently standing next to Jake, and looked up at her, causing her to smile. "Oh, how adorable…" She looked at Jake with a somewhat shy expression. "Um… May I?"

"Of course." said Jake with a smile. "I'm Jake by the way."

"Oh, um… My name's Jasmine…" said the steel-type Gym Leader as she held Eevee in her arms, softly stroking his head as she did. She was very gentle with him, unlike Melanie, so Eevee seemed rather content.

"So… How do you know Erika?" asked Jake after a short silence, wanting to start some sort of a conversation with her. "Are you one of the trainers in this Gym?"

"Oh, no…" said Jasmine, "Erika and I are friends… Grass-type pokémon don't appeal to me very much… Not that I have anything against them! It's just, um… a personal opinion…"

"That's alright. Everybody has a different taste."

"I like the steel-type…" She looked at him all of a sudden (up until that moment she had been staring at the floor) "Do you know about the steel-type?"

Jake noticed that Jasmine seemed to open up a little bit now that she had a chance to talk about the type of pokémon she liked to use, so he decided to let her talk about them as much as she wished. Besides he didn't really know much about steel-type pokémon. "Not much, no." He had to admit that Jasmine didn't really look like somebody who was a steel-type trainer, but who was he to judge?

"They're very hard, cold, sharp, and really strong!" After she said that her voice returned to its usual quiet tone. "Um… I'm not lying…" she added, once again looking down at the floor.

"I believe you." Jasmine was just incredibly cute in every possible way. He was about to say something else when she interrupted him.

"Oh, they're about to begin."

"Are you ready?" asked Erika, getting a nod from Jacob. "I have been training myself on not only flower arrangement but also pokémon battle." She took out a pokéball from, surprisingly, one of the sleeves of her kimono. "I shall not lose."

To Jacob it seemed like Erika had just abandoned her friendly behavior from a few minutes ego and that she has now entered a so called 'battle mode', which made him more nervous than he already was. However he did remember what Melanie said yesterday before heading off to Vermilion City: worst case scenario in a Gym Battle was losing and trying again. It's not like his life was on the line or something. It is true that losing does leave a bitter aftertaste, but no one can just go winning on and on without ever losing. ******

"Alright, here goes nothing…" muttered Jacob to himself as released his Pidgeotto. He wasn't going to let his guard down just because he had a type advantage though. Erika was a Gym Leader after all, so he had to keep an eye out.

"Victreebel, come on out."

Even though Jake was more into fire-type pokémon he was curious to see how different trainers battle even if they didn't use fire-type pokémon like he does. So he decided to pay attention to the battle and to cease his so-far-miserable-and-fruitless attempts at flirting with Jasmine for later. Not to mention that Victreebel looked completely different from all the pokémon he had seen so far, and that made him even more curious to see what battle strategy Erika had in mind. After all she was about to face a flying-type pokémon, so she was going to have to rely mostly on strategy in order to pull it off.

"Okay Pidgeotto, let's start it off with Gust!"

"Victreebel, dodge and use Razor Leaf." Erika's pokémon was able to dodge the attack without too much effort, which showed that Jacob was going to have to work harder in order to land a hit.

"Pidgeotto, use Gust one more time to stop that attack!" Pidgeotto did as ordered, which made all the leaves fly off in different direction. "Alright, way to go, Pidgeotto, nice job! Now use Gust on Victreebel one more time!"

"Dodge."

The same process was repeated a few times. Victreebel was certainly faster than Jacob had expected it to be. It seemed like if he wanted to land a successful hit and make some progress he was going to have to rely on Pidgeotto's speed and go for physical attacks. "Okay Pidgeotto, let's go for a Wing Attack!" Pidgeotto began to dive in Victreebel's direction, and Jake was surprised as one second and then two went by without Erika telling her Victreebel to either dodge or to use a counter attack.

Something didn't feel right, especially when Erika's blank expression suddenly turned into a grin. When it seemed like Pidgeotto was one moment away from successfully landing the attack Erika suddenly ordered her Victreebel to dodge once more, an order which was soon followed by a different move. "Stun Spore."

Erika must have known that Stun Spore was very unlikely to hit from far away, not to mention that Pidgeotto's Gust would have been more than capable of blowing it away. Using Stun Spore before getting Pidgeotto to come close would have ruined the element of surprise Erika had relied on. She's been patiently waiting for Pidgeotto to use a physical attack the entire time. "Not bad…" muttered Jake quietly to himself. This battle was becoming more interesting to watch by the minute.

Jacob was now deep in the mud and he knew it. While Stun Spore was unable to keep a pokémon immobilized the entire time it was more than enough to keep Pidgeotto from flying for more than a second or two, which meant that his bird pokémon was now grounded. He was kind of angry with himself for not realizing that he was about to fall straight into Erika's well laid trap. After all Bulbasaur, his starter pokémon, knew how to use Stun Spore, not to mention that Jacob had relied on that move a few times during the battles he had with trainers on the way from Cerulean City to Saffron City.

"Victreebel, use Leaf Storm."

Jacob knew that grass-type moves weren't very effective on flying-type pokémon but Leaf Storm was a very powerful attack regardless of that. "Pidgeotto, try to dodge!" His pokémon attempted to dodge the attack but it was no use. Pidgeotto was much slower while under the effects of Stun Spore.

"Leaf Blade."

"Pidgeotto, Victreebel's coming straight at you, try to use Gust!" For a moment it seemed like Pidgeotto was about to fully execute the attack but the effects of Stun Spore kicked in again at the last second. Victreebel's attack was a direct hit and it was so powerful that it sent Pidgeotto rolling to the other side of the battlefield. "Pidgeotto!" For a moment Jacob had the huge urge to run over and make sure that Pidgeotto was okay but he doubted that a trainer was allowed to enter the battlefield in the middle of an official match. "Can you get up?!"

Erika, however, did not seem like she was going to give Pidgeotto the chance to even try to get up. "Victreebel, use Vine Whip to grab Pidgeotto and toss it!" There was a long silence. From the looks of it Pidgeotto was clearly no longer able to continue battling after taking that much damage. Jacob was going to have to think of a way to beat both of Erika's pokémon using only one of his two remaining pokémon in order to win. "Go ahead and choose your next pokémon." said Erika to her challenger after giving him a few moments to think what he should do next. "I'm waiting."

******* If you feel like it you may now go on YouTube for a moment and look for the theme that plays when you're inside a Pokémon Gym. Again, you don't have to listen to it as you read, but you might want to at least remember what it sounds like in case you've forgotten. Feel free to choose the Gym theme from whichever game you want to.**

******** Feel free to listen to a gym battle theme now. Again, rather than having me force you to listen to the theme I like best, you're more than welcome to choose whichever one you want. If you want you can also take a look at Erika's sprite from Black 2 & White 2 and at her VS sprite from HeartGold / SoulSilver if you happen to have picked a gym battle theme from generation IV or V.**


	14. Flower Arrangement (2)

**A/N: Check out the new cover image my sister drew for me! She wanted to practice on drawing chibis so do keep in mind that things may look a little out of proportion. For example a Charmander is taller than a person's head and so on. Also chibis are meant to have very big heads. I think it turned out pretty well, especially with the 'kill me' expression Jake has there. Also the Charmander might look a little weird as well; my sister said she had a hard time drawing it. But the important thing is that it looks cute. Her deviant-art page is ****Effy-Chan**.

Eevee, having been placed back down on the ground by Jasmine, began to look around, glancing every once in a while at Vulpix or at Jake (who was still busy waiting for Jacob to choose his next pokémon). Vulpix was still walking around with what appeared to be great curiosity, seeing how she made sure to look at pretty much everything. She seemed to be very fond of smelling the different types of flowers that surrounded the place. Charmander was restlessly sitting on Jake's shoulder. Why do Eevee and Vulpix get to walk around and she doesn't? It wasn't fair! Then again Charmander did remember how she accidentally ended up burning the only picture Jake had of his family. Perhaps Jake knew what he was doing by not letting her wonder off inside a place filled with flowers and other flammable objects.

Jake noticed that Jacob was still deep in thought, and looking at Vulpix gave him an idea. He happened to have noticed that there was a flowerpot filled with roses standing right behind him and Jasmine. "Say, uh…" he said all of a sudden, getting Jasmine's attention, "Do you like roses?"

Jasmine seemed a little surprised at the question, probably because of the fact that it was not related to anything at all. "Oh, uh, yes…" she said, sounding a little confused, "I think they're, um, lovely…" Her attention was soon caught once again by the battle when Jacob sent out his Bronzor. Now that there was a steel-type pokémon on the battlefield it made the match a lot more interesting (in her opinion at least).

Jake meanwhile silently took a rose from the pot (with the intention of giving it to her), but he forgot to watch out for the thorns on the stem. He winced and, out of instinct, let go of the flower, causing it to drop down to the floor.

"Oh my, you should be careful with those…" said Jasmine, completely oblivious as to what Jake wanted to do with the rose, "Are you alright?" she asked, looking slightly worried.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you." He knew that he couldn't just pick it up and give it to her _now_; that would just make him look like an idiot. Still, he couldn't help but smile at the concern she had just shown, even if there wasn't really anything to be concerned about to begin with.

Eevee, having observed the scene, got an idea. He slowly approached the rose and, like cats do when they're curious about something, began to gently poke it with a paw (to check whether there was some way to pick it up while avoiding its thorns). After a short examination he realized that the rose was not going to serve the purpose he had for it. "_Vee!_" exclaimed the little pokémon, getting his trainer's attention as well as Jasmine's.

"What is it?" asked Jake with a raised eyebrow. Eevee poked the flower a few more times and when Jake saw Vulpix some distance away from them he managed to put the pieces together. "Ah, I see…" he said with a chuckle before taking a look around. After a few seconds he returned with a different type of flower in his hand. "Here you go, completely thorn-free!"

"_Vee!_" exclaimed Eevee, looking all happy and excited as he grabbed the flower in his mouth and ran over to Vulpix.

"Oh, that's cute…" said Jasmine with a smile.

Eevee placed the flower down in front of Vulpix and nudged it in her direction with his nose. Vulpix looked down at the flower for a moment and then, much to Eevee's dismay, shoved it away with one of her paws and then walked away. Eevee slowly walked back over to his trainer with his tail between his legs, his ears flat against his head and a sad expression on his face. Jake picked Eevee up in his arms, realizing that the disappointed pokémon could use some comforting.

"Don't worry Eevee," said Jasmine with a smile, "I'm sure she'll come around eventually."

"Tangrowth, it's your turn." came Erika's voice from the battlefield as she sent out her second pokémon. Apparently Jake and Jasmine were so distracted by Eevee's fruitless and yet adorable attempts to impress Vulpix that they didn't get to see Jacob's Bronzor knock out Erika's Victreebel.

"That pokémon is really big…" said Jake to himself as he looked from Tangrowth to Jacob's tiny Bronzor a few times, comparing the two pokémon by size.

"Tangrowth is one of Erika's favorite pokémon…" said Jasmine as she watched, obviously waiting to see Jacob's steel-type pokémon in action. Jake had a feeling that 'one of Erika's favorite pokémon' also meant 'one of her strongest pokémon', not to mention that Tangrowth seemed like it had the ability to tank a lot of damage (because of how big it was). Hopefully Jacob will be able to think of a way to somehow take Tangrowth down, because up until now things haven't been going very well for him.

Jacob quietly watched Erika's Tangrowth without telling Bronzor to do a thing. Erika seemed to be waiting for him to make the first move. He could not tell whether she wanted to see what he would do or whether she was trying to lure him into another trap. Still, those few moments during which neither of them did anything gave him some time to think, even if not much. It seemed like in order to take down Tangrowth he was going to have to continue damaging it while trying to avoid letting it land a counter attack. As much as he hated to admit it the fact that Victreebel was partially a poison-type pokémon was one of the main reasons he had managed to take it down, seeing how Bronzor was also a psychic-type.

"Bronzor, use Confusion!" He really couldn't think of a safer and better way to deal with this pokémon other than just attacking it again and again. Sometimes people say that the best defense is a strong offence, which made it quite a shame that Bronzor didn't know any psychic-type attack that was stronger than Confusion. Confusion was considered pretty basic and, seeing how he hasn't been training Bronzor for a very long time, it didn't seem like Bronzor was suddenly going to learn a better psychic-type move.

"Use Power Whip."

"Dodge it!" Being a rather small pokémon, along with having the ability 'Levitate', Bronzor managed to doge the attack without too much difficulty. Still, Jacob knew that Power Whip was a very powerful grass-type attack, which meant that he couldn't underestimate it. The usage of a move like that made Jacob realize that Erika wasn't playing around, even if she had given him the chance to make the first move just a few seconds ago. Suddenly, he got an idea. Confusion wasn't the most powerful psychic-type move on the market, but he could always try lowering Tangrowth's special defense. That should make things a lot easier for him. "Bronzor, use Metal Sound!"

Erika, of course, immediately realized what Jacob was trying to do. It is needless to mention that she wasn't very happy about it. "Tangrowth, Power Whip, again."

Bronzor dodged the attack once again. "Metal Sound, one more time!"

Again Erika had Tangrowth use Power Whip and again Bronzor managed to dodge the attack. "Energy Ball." Energy Ball, being a much faster attack and therefore more difficult to dodge, ended up landing a successful hit. While Bronzor didn't seem as if it had been badly damaged by it, it seemed as if the attack had served a completely different purpose. While Bronzor was busy trying to dodge, Tangrowth took advantage of the steel-type pokémon's lack of attention in order to grab it with one of its vines.

"Bronzor, can you break free?!" Now that Bronzor was immobilized it could not attempt to dodge anymore. "Try using Confusion in order to break free!"

While the attack did seem to do a significant amount of damage (due to Metal Sound, which had been used twice), Tangrowth didn't let go of its grip on Bronzor. Erika grinned. "You see, Jacob, Levitate is indeed quite a useful ability." she said, "Especially when it comes to steel-type pokémon, who are weak to ground-type moves."

"…" Jacob said nothing. Why was Erika saying that to him?

"However, the effects of this ability can be removed rather simply with the usage of weight." She snapped her fingers once and Tangrowth pinned Bronzor to the floor.

It took Jacob less than a second to realize what Erika was about to do. "Bronzor, be careful, use Confusion again! Try to rise back into the air!"

"Earthquake."

With that the match was pretty much over. *****

"Ouch… I guess that's the end of it…" said Jake quietly to himself. He also hadn't anticipated Erika to use Earthquake (between you and me – it's because he didn't even know that such a move existed to begin with).

"Bronzor, return!" said Jacob, returning his fainted pokémon into its pokéball. **** **"You were great, you should take a rest." It's true that there was this bitter aftertaste of a defeat. He felt like he might have been able to pull it off if he had paid more attention to what Erika was doing, because it seemed like the use of Metal Sound and then Confusion was working quite well. Erika's Tangrowth certainly looked fatigued from the battle, which was proof that Jacob and Bronzor has been on the right track. Still, even though he had lost, he felt like it was worth it. After all he did manage to make Erika's Victreebel faint and then to inflict a decent amount of damage on her Tangrowth using only Bronzor.

Jake decided he might as well join his friend now that the match was over. He looked around in search for his Vulpix but couldn't find her anywhere. She must have wondered off to another part of the gym while he was busy paying attention to the battle. "Hey, did you happen to see where Vulpix ran off to?" he asked Jasmine, who looked around for a couple of seconds and then shook her head. "I better go find her."

"Do you want me to help you look?" asked Jasmine in her usual quiet and shy voice.

"There's no need, it'll fine." said Jake with a smile. "I'll find her myself. Could you please tell Jacob I'll be right back?" Jasmine silently nodded. "Thanks." With Charmander sitting on his shoulder and Eevee in his arms he took his leave and began looking for Vulpix in the Gym. After a short while he realized that he should have asked either Jasmine or Erika for directions because he had pretty much no idea whatsoever where he was going.

"_Vee!_"

"What is it?" asked Jake as he came to a stop, noticing that Eevee was a little restless. "Hey, you look doggish and whatnot," he said after a short silence, "maybe you can follow Vulpix's scent or something?" It was true that they were surrounded by flowers, which meant that tracking a single scent was probably not going to be easy, but it was still worth a try.

"_Eevee!_"

"Alright, here you go." said Jake as he placed Eevee down on the ground. While he couldn't directly understand what Eevee was saying the excitement he was able to notice in Eevee's tone and expression made him take Eevee's answer as a positive one. "If you find her and she's all scared as a result of being lost you'll be her hero. Then you can both run off into the sunset and cuddle together under a double rainbow."

Eevee made no response, but Jake was able to tell by his body language that the pokémon liked the idea. To be honest Jake said that just to tease Eevee a little. He doubted that Vulpix was actually scared to death and he also doubted that she was going to thank Eevee for finding her. She probably didn't even know she was lost to begin with. Eevee, however, being the innocent, adorable and fluffy ball of fur that he was, saw what his trainer had just said as a very likely possibility. That made him excited, and because he was even cuter when he was excited Jake decided to let him benefit from the doubt. At least Charmander understood the joke (considering how she snickered after thinking about it for a couple of moments).

When Jake finally did find Vulpix what he saw was quite a sight for sore eyes. He saw those two trainers from yesterday (the two girls from the department store). The two were shaking in each other's arms in one corner of the room while Vulpix wondered around and smelled the flowers. It might not have been very nice of him but he just found the sight to be extremely amusing.

"Eww, get out of here!" shouted one of them (kind of like some people yell at cockroaches).

"You'll ruin all of our precious flowers!" shouted the other.

"Vulpix, come here." said Jake after managing to remove the grin from his face. Vulpix listened and immediately walked over. Eevee tried to sneak in an 'I missed you' nuzzle but she shoved him away with a paw. (It's quite mean of her, I know, but it's also cute when you think about it. Think about it again for a moment.)

"I _hate_ those nasty fire-types!" said one of the girls to the other. Jake raised an eyebrow. While they did look a little older than him but they were acting as if they were five years old.

The two then noticed him, causing him to roll his eyes after a while of them staring at him. "Yes, I'm that guy from the department store." he said eventually, despite having some reluctance about reminding them that they've already met (sort of). After all they did glare at him yesterday like he was an accused murderer.

"Oh, right, it's _you_." It was then that they noticed that they were still holding each other like two little babies, which caused them both to frown as they let go of each other.

"Yes, it is." said he as he raised an eyebrow. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't treat my Vulpix as if she has rabies."

"Your Vulpix was going to ruin our flowers or… or… burn them or something…"

"No she was not."

The two girls whispered quietly among themselves and, once they realized that they didn't have any more reasonable argumentations, changed the subject. "Whatever!" said one of them, "You fire-type freaks are all the same; walking into a grass-type gym like you own the place!"

"I just came here looking for Vulpix." Geez, for a moment he felt like he had finally discovered somebody as immature as Brad. "It's my friend who wanted to challenge your Gym Leader, not me."

"Oh, yeah, we just saw him lose." said the other girl as both she and her friend broke into laughter.

"Wow, you two are quite the stalkers." First the department store, and now this? How come he had failed to notice that they had also been present during the match between Jacob and Erika? After all he did spend half of the time talking to Jasmine, which was far less distracting than looking at a pokémon battle.

"All challengers are the same! They think they can just use a pokémon with a type advantage to win but it's never the case. I like to see their expressions when they lose. They deserve it for not taking our Pokémon Gym seriously."

"Hey," said Jake with a frown, "don't talk about my friend like that. He was way more serious about this compared to how serious you two must have been while picking your clothes this morning." How come Erika was so nice and these two were so, well… 'Bradish'? (Brad + ish)

The two girls frowned. There was nothing worse than being told that your outfit was hideous or weird, especially when it came to people as shallow as them. "Whatever. He'll never be able to beat Erika with just a lame type advantage." said one of them. "I bet both of you won't last even thirty seconds against her if you use a pokémon that doesn't have a type advantage over grass-types. In fact you look like you'll lose quickly even with a fire-type!"

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." said the girl with a smug grin. She then looked at his Eevee and laughed. "Just take a look at your Eevee. He'll lose faster than your friend's Pidgeotto did."

"Is that supposed to be a challenge?" Jake certainly didn't like the way they were mocking Eevee _and_ fire-type pokémon.

"No." said the other girl with a triumphant expression. "It's obvious that you don't stand a chance against our Gym Leader anyways."

"…How about we make this a little more interesting?" Jake asked (with a grin).

"Interesting how?" asked both of them simultaneously.

_A minute or two later, back at the Gym's official battlefield_

Jacob was in the middle of a conversation with Erika and Jasmine when Jake walked over. "Hey, can I borrow Bulbasaur?" he asked, getting a questioning look and raised eyebrows from Jacob and the two Gym Leaders.

"Um…" said Jacob, not sure about how he should respond to this rather odd request, "Sure, I guess…" He took out Bulbasaur's pokéball from his bag and handed it to Jake, "But may I ask what you are going to-"

"When are you going to challenge Erika again?" Now that Jacob had a chance to see how Erika liked to battle Jake knew for certain that he (Jacob) would probably challenge her again sometime in the very near future.

"Well I was thinking about training for the rest of today as well as tomorrow so-"

"So in two days?" asked Jake, cutting him short again.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Thanks, I'll give Bulbasaur back to you by then." after saying that Jake left without saying another word.

"Um… okay…" said Jacob as he looked back at Erika and Jasmine, "Um, usually he's not this, um… weird and unpredictable…" Since his friend obviously had a crush on Jasmine he might as well try to stop her from getting the impression that Jake was crazy. "Most of the time…"

_Two days later, outside of the Celadon Gym_

Jacob came to a stop in front of the Gym and took in a deep breath. He had spent the past two days training Bronzor and Pidgeotto in order to battle Erika again. As for Jake and Bulbasaur: he had no idea what they were up to. He hadn't seen Jake at all in the past two days. Jake must have returned after Jacob had fallen asleep during the past two nights and left early in the mornings. While Jake could be weird sometimes, Jacob doubted there was any reason to be concerned about Bulbasaur's wellbeing. He knew that Jake would take good care of Bulbasaur. Since he didn't have to worry about Bulbasaur he could focus on the task at hand. It was time to earn himself a Rainbow Badge.

*******In HeartGold / SoulSilver Erika's Tangrowth knows how to use Earthquake. I thought you'd want to know.**

******** You may have noticed that I like to refer to pokémon as 'he' or 'she' even though that's probably not the way it's supposed to be. Do keep in mind that many steel-type pokémon like Bronzor are genderless.**


	15. Rematch at the Celadon Gym

**A/N: To shin-obin (guest): gamewise, what you just said is true. However I think that in a story it's not as simple as the turn-based battling that you see in the games. It should be a lot more visual (like in the anime). For example just because a certain move has an accuracy of 100% in the games doesn't mean that it's impossible to dodge it. Also there won't be any levels in this story. The experience of a pokémon and a trainer might be mentioned but levels will not. This means that if you see an experienced trainer in this story (a Gym Leader or an Elite Four member for example) that does not mean that he / she will surely defeat a much less experienced trainer. If it were so then having Jacob challenge a Gym Leader will make no sense unless I make a time jump of at least a few months.**

Despite having experienced a battle with Erika already and despite having trained especially in order to battle her again Jacob knew that he had to take the upcoming battle as seriously as he had taken the first one. While he had had a chance to see some of Erika's tricks the last time he battled her, he knew that it wasn't enough. Erika might have a few more hidden strategies up her sleeve that he was going to have to be careful of. In addition to that there was also no guaranteeing that Erika would use her Victreebel and Tangrowth again. It might make things easier for him if she does, seeing how he had already battled these two pokémon before, but there was a pretty big chance that Jacob was going to have to deal with two completely different pokémon.

Still, he was feeling more comfortable about this when compared the first time he had faced Erika in battle. In his opinion over-confidence was a bad thing but a certain amount of confidence was important. Whether he ended up having to face Victreebel and Tangrowth again or not, Jacob knew that defeating Erika was not going to be easy. Regardless of that, he felt like his pokémon had what it takes and he believed that, together, they'll be able to pull this off and win. Like Melanie said, it was possible to just keep trying when it came to earning a Gym Badge.

Thinking about what Melanie had said before they parted at Saffron City made Jacob wonder how she was doing. He hasn't heard from her since then. Knowing how enthusiastic and energetic Melanie could be sometimes, he felt certain that she had already gone to the Vermilion Gym with the intention of winning her first Gym Badge, and he was curious about whether she had managed to pull it off or not. On one side she would have probably called him to brag about her Badge (had she won one), but there was also a possibility that she was now somewhere in Celadon City with the intention of finding him and startling him by appearing out of nowhere while he wasn't expecting it.

Either way, Jacob was probably going to hear from her soon enough so he might as well think about what was truly important. He still didn't know where Jake and Bulbasaur were, but he could always give Jake a call sometime later and ask. Jake did say that he was going to give Bulbasaur back to him before his rematch against Erika but Jacob couldn't see him anywhere inside the Gym. True, he wasn't planning to use Bulbasaur in this battle, but he was still curious about what Jake had been doing for the past two days and, more importantly, why Jake had wanted to borrow Bulbasaur to begin with.

Deciding to just give Jake a call after battling Erika again and ask, Jacob shrugged and made his way towards where he knew Erika was usually waiting for her challengers.

_Meanwhile, elsewhere_

"Sir!"

"What is it?"

"We've successfully accessed the security cameras located inside the Pokémon Gym."

"Excellent. Let me take a look." He went over to a few screens and examined them. "Well done. We can see every part of the Gym now."

"Yes." said the latter. He then pointed at one of the screens. "This is the official battlefield; it is located at the back of the Gym."

"Is the Gym Leader there now?"

"Yes. I think that's her over there on the right." Jasmine was not there this time, having returned to Olivine City shortly after Jacob's first match with Erika. After all she did have her own Gym to attend to.

"Ah, yes, I see her." There was a short silence. "What about the other trainers who are part of the Gym?"

"They're all scattered around in different parts of the Gym."

"All grass-type users?"

"All of them, without an exception."

The other was about to say something else when something on one of the screens caught his attention. "Who's this? There's someone approaching the Gym Leader."

The latter took a close look at the screen. "Looks like just some random challenger to me."

Another Team Plasma grunt that had been silently standing next to them suddenly joined the conversation upon seeing Jacob, who was now talking to Erika. "This kid looks familiar… I can't tell why, though…"

"It doesn't matter." said the Team Plasma grunt referred to as 'sir'. "Get the squad ready. We'll leave as soon as possible."

"Could you remind me what the plan is, sir?"

"Yes. The department store is filled with trainers and, therefore, pokémon. Of course, we don't want to have a Gym Leader getting in our way again…" said the commander.

The Team Plasma grunt that was in charge of the screens then said, "I think another trainer has just entered the Gym. Probably just another challenger, though."

The grunt who had felt like he recognized Jacob recognized Jake almost immediately. He remembered the way his Charmander and Vulpix nearly set him and his friend on fire. "I know who they both are! They're the two brats who stole the pokémon egg from me and my comrade!"

"Well then," said the commander, "losing that egg wasn't that much of a loss, but here's your chance to get it back."

_Back at the Gym_

"I believe you've had a chance to prepare yourself for this." said Erika calmly as she and Jacob each stood on a different side of the battlefield.

"Sure did!" said Jacob, not looking as nervous as he had two days ago. "I'll be using my Pidgeotto and Bronzor again."

"Very well." Part of a Gym Leader's job was to test trainers and their pokémon, so she was quite curious to see how Jacob was planning to battle her this time. However that did not mean that she was going to go easy on him. In Erika's opinion going easy on a challenger was like holding him cheap and not taking him seriously. "I shall see how much the three of you have improved since our last battle. Are you ready?"

"Yes, let's get this show on the road!"

"Wait!" Erika and Jacob turned their heads and saw Jake running in their direction. "Stop, wait a sec!" He walked over to Jacob and, after searching in his bag for a moment, took out Bulbasaur's pokéball and handed it to him. "Here's your Bulbasaur." He said, after catching his breath.

"Oh, thanks… Did you take him to a-"

"Yes, Bulbasaur was in a pokémon center before I came here and I also fed him. No need to worry." said Jake, still panting.

"Thanks Jake, I knew I could count on you." said Jacob with a smile. "Where are Charmander and your other pokémon?"

"Oh, they're all inside their pokéballs. I knew that they wouldn't be able to keep up with my running pace."

"Oh, I see…" It was then that Jacob realized that Erika was still there. "Look, I appreciate how you hurried here in order to bring Bulbasaur back to me before the match like you promised, but I wasn't planning to use him in this battle so you didn't have to rush yourself." He still wanted to know what Jake and Bulbasaur had done in the past two days but he wanted to battle Erika first and save all the talking for later.

"Oh, I didn't hurry here in order to give Bulbasaur back to you before your rematch." said Jake bluntly, causing Jacob to raise an eyebrow. "I wanted to get here before you two started because there's something I need to do."

"And what is that?" asked Jacob.

Jake turned around and looked at Erika. "I'm here to challenge you."

"What?!" exclaimed Jacob, completely taken by surprise. Didn't Jake tell him just a while ago that he had no intention of collecting Gym Badges?

"Really?" asked Erika, looking a little surprised herself. "You've changed your mind?"

Jake nodded. "I would like to battle your Victreebel. Will the two of you be my opponents?"

"As a Gym Leader I am committed to accept the challenge of any trainer." said Erika. She then looked at Jacob. "Which one of you will battle me first?" she asked. After all Jacob had gotten there before Jake did, so he was obviously the one who should make the decision.

"Jake can go first, I don't mind." After all Jacob believed that their journey would be a lot more interesting if Jake also decided to collect Gym Badges, and he was afraid that Jake might not 'be in the mood' to fight Erika later. Yes, it does sound quite weird and unlikely, but with Jake and his randomness everything's possible. Sometimes Jacob felt like his friend could be the research object of the world's greatest psychologists.

"Very well then." said Erika. Having a one-on-one battle wasn't very common when it came to an official match in a Pokémon Gym, but there wasn't any formal rule that forbade it. The rule did say that the Gym Leader and the challenger must each use the same number of pokémon, but it didn't mention a specific number. ******

Jake, after having taken a single pokéball out, handed his backpack to Jacob. "Can you hold onto this for me for a while?" Jacob nodded and took the bag. "The egg's in there so be careful with it. You can let the others out of their pokéballs if you want but make sure they don't wonder off." Jacob wanted to ask who the 'others' were, but he figured he would find out soon enough so he didn't ask. He went and stood at the side of the battlefield where he was going to have a good view of the battle. As he waited for Jake and Erika to begin their match he couldn't help but wonder what it was that had caused his friend to change his mind about battling Erika.

"We may begin when you're ready." said Erika after a short silence. "I do believe you remember how it goes, or would you like me to explain again?"

"There's no need, I remember." said Jake politely. "Let's start." *******

Jacob had expected Jake to send out Charmander or Vulpix against Erika's Victreebel, so he was more than surprised when Jake sent out Eevee instead. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Jacob from where he was standing. While there wasn't a type advantage for either one of them Eevee was still going to be at a disadvantage because Victreebel knew all sorts of grass-type moves that didn't require physical contact, which meant that it would be able to attack Eevee from afar. Eevee, on the other hand, being a normal-type, was going to have to rely only on physical attacks. Jacob had no doubt that Erika was going to use Stun Spore the moment Eevee got too close. This meant that, statistically, the odds weren't in Jake's favor at all.

Jake made no response to his friend's question and remained focused on the battle at hand.

Erika waited for a few seconds and, when she saw that Jake wasn't commanding Eevee to do anything, decided to make the first move herself. "Victreebel, use Razor Leaf."

"Eevee, use Quick Attack in order to dodge!" The way Jake saw it, why have your pokémon simply dodge when you could take advantage of the speed of a certain move your pokémon knows in order to dodge? Jacob found himself rather surprised by Eevee's speed. Yes, it was Quick Attack, but it still looked quite faster than he remembered. Was Eevee always this fast or maybe Jacob had failed to notice it? Jake pointed at Victreebel, a determined expression on his face. "Quick Attack again, let's go!"

"Victreebel, use Leaf Blade." ordered Erika as Eevee began to dash in Victreebel's direction. Jacob didn't know why Erika didn't command Victreebel to use Stun Spore but he figured that he might as well _not_ give her any ideas.

"Zigzag in order to dodge and keep going!" Eevee managed to evade the attack and to land a successful Quick Attack on Victreebel. "Use Quick Attack again, before Victreebel can recover!"

After Eevee landed a Quick Attack on Victreebel again Erika realized that Jake wasn't going to give Victreebel a chance to counterattack, which meant only one thing. "Victreebel, use Stun Spore." After all with Stun Spore there's no need to focus or to aim when your target's very close to you.

The moment Erika said the word 'stun' Jake ordered Eevee to use Quick Attack once again, only that this time he had Eevee use it in order to get away from Victreebel. Eevee was quick enough in order to get away and the cloud of paralyzing powder missed. Being powder, it floated in the air in front of Victreebel for a few seconds and then faded away. "Way to go, Eevee!" So far things were going quite well for him, but he knew that Erika wasn't going to give Eevee another chance to get close to her Victreebel. He knew that next time she was going to use Stun Spore right away.

"Your Eevee has remarkable speed." admitted Erika after a short silence during which neither she nor Jake had commanded their pokémon to do anything. "I did not expect Eevee to be this quick. The two of you have obviously been training."

Jake smiled, silently accepting her compliment. He could tell by Erika's expression, however, that she wasn't going to let him pull off something like that again. Still, it's not like he didn't have any other strategies up his sleeve. After all he did borrow Jacob's Bulbasaur in order to prepare for a battle against a grass-type pokémon like Victreebel.

"Victreebel, use Razor Leaf again."

"Dodge it again!" Eevee was able to dodge once again, which gave Jake the hope that Victreebel will eventually get tired if things kept going this way.

After a few more attack-and-dodge scenarios Erika suddenly commanded Victreebel to use a move she hadn't used even once until that moment. "Use Magical Leaf." (I think that a Victreebel can't learn this move but you'll have to forgive me)

"Keep dodging!" Jake was more than surprised when the leaves fired by Victreebel began to chase Eevee. "What's going on?"

"Magical Leaf just happens to be a move that never misses." said Erika. "It's almost magical, isn't it? Hence the name." Jake frowned. He had no idea that such a move even existed. If he had sent Charmander or Vulpix into this battle he would have been able to use a fire-type attack in order to burn the leaves. That wasn't the case, however. He entered Erika's Gym a few minutes ago with the intention of proving what he and his Eevee were capable of. "Victreebel, wait for the attack to land and then, when it slows Eevee down, grab him using Vine Whip."

Jake said nothing. There was nothing Eevee could do in order to avoid Erika's little trap. Jake already knew what Erika was going to do once Victreebel grabbed Eevee with Vine Whip. It was time for plan B.

"If Eevee won't kindly come over to have some of our refreshing Stun Spore we'll have to drag him over." Erika smiled that little smile of hers and snapped her fingers once.

Jacob nervously watched as Victreebel began to slowly drag Jake's Eevee towards the so called Stun-Spore-zone. He had no idea how Jake was going to get out of this one, and to his surprised Jake didn't seem too upset. His friend did seem somewhat apprehensive but not as worried as Jacob himself would have been had he found himself in Jake's position. Victreebel continued to slowly drag Eevee. Jake and Eevee were slowly running out of time. "Come on Jake, why aren't you doing anything?" muttered Jacob quietly to himself.

"_Charmander, char!_" Charmander and Vulpix were also watching. Charmander seemed quite worried herself while Vulpix just sat there and said nothing (although a close inspection would have showed that she was also a little worried.)

"Let's get this over with." said Erika once Eevee was close enough to Victreebel in order for Victreebel's Stun Spore attack to land. "Victreebel, Stun Spore."

Jake saw the cloud of Stun Spore slowly make its way toward Eevee and he knew that it was now or never. "Eevee, now! Use Bite! Bite the vines and break free!" Victreebel, having not expected that, let out a yelp of pain and, out of instinct, the vine holding onto Eevee was retracted. The cloud of Stun Spore was still slowly advancing. "Like we practiced Eevee! Use Quick attack to move in a circle and get behind Victreebel!" Eevee did just that, and the result was that Victreebel was now positioned between Eevee and the cloud of Stun Spore. "Let's give Victreebel a taste of its own medicine! Use Tackle!"

Eevee slammed into Victreebel and knocked it straight into the Stun Spore it had produced. There was absolute silence for a couple of moments. Jacob and Erika were too far away to see that Jake was actually biting his own lip because of how nervous he was. Did it work? "Come on…" muttered Jake quietly to himself, "Please work…" The cloud of Stun Spore faded away after a few more seconds. Jake, Jacob, and Erika looked at Victreebel for a few moments before realizing that it was now paralyzed. "Yes!" exclaimed Jake as he jumped up in the air with excitement. **##**

"What's this?" asked Erika, looking too surprised in order to say another word.

Jake had had his doubts while practicing this strategy with Jacob's Bulbasaur, but now that it had worked he was obviously delighted. "Alright Eevee, use Quick Attack again and again! Make sure to attack from different angles!" It's true that Victreebel was partially paralyzed but that didn't mean that Jake and Eevee could let their guard down.

"Victreebel, no!" For the first time since they had begun their battle Erika looked worried. Every time Victreebel finally managed to turn and face Eevee in order to attack Eevee simply got out of Victreebel's sight using Quick Attack.

After Eevee hit Victreebel with Quick attack a few more times Jake noticed that Erika's pokémon wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer. "Alright Eevee, it's now or never! Use Take Down!" Eevee seemed to be slightly hurt by recoil but Jake could tell that Eevee would still be able to continue battling in case it proved necessary. Victreebel tried to get up after receiving the blow but it ended up collapsing, unable to continue. "We did it?" asked Jake after a short moment of silence, as if unsure whether he and Eevee had really just managed to defeat a Gym Leader's pokémon. "Yes, we did it!" He ran over to Eevee and picked him up and his arms. "Way to go, Eevee! You were awesome!"

Jake gave Eevee a tight hug and, in return, got a few affectionate licks across his cheek. Jacob, Charmander and Vulpix also made their way over. "Way to go Jake!" said Jacob, unable to conceal his excitement. "You too, Eevee!" Just like Erika he too hadn't seen Jake's little stunt with the Stun Spore coming, but that was what made it all the more impressive.

"The two of you make quite a remarkable team." said Erika who was now kneeling beside her Victreebel. She gently stroked her fainted pokémon for a few seconds before returning it into its pokéball. She then rose to her feet and faced the victorious challenger in front of her. "I concede defeat. Looks like I underestimated you the moment you sent out your Eevee. I have only myself to blame for that." She brought her hand into her pocket and when she opened it afterwards a small rainbow-colored badge in the shape of a flower was revealed. "This is the official Pokémon League Rainbow Badge. It's yours."

"Oh…" said Jake, looking slightly surprised. He didn't challenge Erika with the intention of winning a Badge from her. He challenged her because he wanted to test himself (and to prove that those two stupid girls were wrong of course). "I… I can't take it. We only had a one-on-one match. That doesn't count. Right?"

"The Pokémon League rules do not forbid an official one-on-one Gym Battle." said Erika as she continued holding the Rainbow Badge in her open hand. "I know you said you aren't planning to go after Gym Badges, but you should still take this as a proof of your victory. Collecting Badges doesn't mean you have to participate in the Pokémon League." There was a short silence. "Take it."

Jake hesitated for a moment and then took the Badge from Erika. "Thanks. I had my doubts about this battle but I also believed that winning wasn't impossible." He had to admit that receiving the Badge from her felt really satisfying.

Erika smiled. "Having faith in yourself and your pokémon is very important. Here, I want you to have this, too."

"What is it?" asked Jake, confused.

"This isn't the TM I usually give to my challengers." said Erika as she looked down at what she was holding. "Usually I give them a TM that contains the move Giga Drain. However…" she looked at Jake. "If I remember correctly, you want to be a fire-type user?" Jake nodded, causing Erika to smile. "Using only one type of pokémon can certainly be challenging. This TM is quite rare and one cannot find it at a regular department store that sells Technical Machines. However I know that a fire-type trainer like you will certainly put it to good use."

Jake took the TM from Erika and stared at it for a moment. "Wait; is this TM what I think it is?"

Erika nodded and smiled. "It is. It will require a lot of hard work but some fully evolved fire-type pokémon are able to learn this move."

"Thank you so much!" said Jake, unable to express his gratitude in any other way. "I've been looking everywhere for this!" (I'll let you try to figure out what that TM contains. However if you give up I'll tell you if you ask nicely and politely =3)

"That was a delightful match. I felt inspired. You've certainly shown that you have a lot of potential as a trainer."

Jake then turned to face Jacob. "Are you going to rub your victory in my face?" asked Jacob with a somewhat annoyed smile. He was obviously very happy for his friend.

"No. Not in _your _face." said Jake with a smile. "I have to go to the department store, there's something I need to… settle…" He began to leave and then came back. He stood close to Erika and then said quietly, "Say uh… Where's Jasmine, your friend?"

"She went home." said Erika.

"Oh, uh… Where is that?" asked Jake, expecting Erika to say that Jasmine lived somewhere in Celadon City.

"Olivine City."

"Isn't that in Johto?" asked Jake.

"It is."

Jake managed to keep a straight face but deep inside he felt like jumping off a cliff. "Oh, I see…" He looked at Jacob.

"Sorry…" said Jacob with a nervous smile. Erika held back a chuckle.

"Well, good luck in your battle against Erika." said Jake after calming down as he took his bag from Jacob and placed Erika's TM inside it. He put his Rainbow Badge in the pocket of his jacket. "I'll be at the department store. Come find me when you're done."

"Okay, I'll see you then." said Jacob.

"Goodbye, Erika. Watching you battle and battling you has taught me a lot." With that he left the Gym with Charmander, Vulpix and Eevee. After a few seconds of walking towards the department store he came to a stop and sighed. "I should have asked Jasmine for her phone number…" He looked at Eevee, who was still in his arms, and whispered. "Well, at least it looks like you might have a chance. I saw the way Vulpix watched you battle earlier."

**** ****That's not how it is in the games, I know, but in this story it's going to be like that. I think that in the anime it also works this way.**

***** ****A 'Gym Leader Battle Theme' goes here. Choose whichever theme from whichever game you want. You know the drill already.**

**##**** There used to be this very intense music that played during certain parts of the anime during the Kanto season. I can't recall specific examples but I think one of those moments was when Ash's Bulbasaur learned how to use Solar Beam. I'm not sure though. I think the music had the words 'intense action' in its name so try to look it up if you want to.**


	16. Crisis at the Department Store

"Is this department store always so crowded with people?" muttered Jake quietly to himself as he entered the Celadon department store once again. He was never very fond of places that were crowded with a lot of people. The density and all the noise always made him feel uncomfortable. However he did come to the department store again with a purpose, although he had to admit that finding somebody in such a crowded place was not going to be easy at all. There was no guaranteeing that those two annoying trainers from Erika's Gym were even there to begin with, but since he couldn't find them at the Gym he figured that the department store would be the best place to go to next. After all two stuck-ups like them were probably very fond of shopping, not to mention that this was the place where he had first seen them.

"_Vee!_" Jake place Eevee on the floor when the pokémon began to squirm restlessly.

"Walk close to me, don't wander off." Charmander and Vulpix gave him a nod but Eevee seemed to have not heard him. He would have repeated himself but he knew that, since Vulpix had heard him, there was no reason for him to worry about Eevee getting lost. And, indeed, Eevee followed Vulpix and Vulpix followed Jake, so all was well. "You know, Vulpix," he said after a while, knowing that Eevee won't hear him because he was obviously not paying attention, "all Eevee wants is to cuddle. I heard Flareons are very fluffy and that they make great pillows, by the way. Also, a Flareon's bigger than an Eevee." He looked down at Vulpix and chuckled at her annoyed expression. "Calm down, I'm just teasing you."

Now that Jake mentioned it he realized that he hadn't really thought about when to use one of his Fire Stones on Eevee. He still hasn't asked Eevee whether he even wanted to evolve into a Flareon. There was a possibility that Eevee would want to evolve into something else or that he wouldn't want to evolve into anything at all. Jake figured that the best time to bring up the subject in front of Eevee would be after Jacob's Gym challenge, so he decided to not think about it for the time being. He was still slightly amazed at how he and Eevee had managed to pull it off during that battle against Erika just earlier this morning. As for the Rainbow Badge Erika had given to him, he still didn't know what he should do with it other than keep it. However, when he finally found those two trainers from Erika's Gym, he figured out exactly what else he should do with it.

Taking the badge out of the pocket of his Jacket, he told himself how he should enjoy this moment and then walked over to the two. "There you are!" he said with a smug grin. "I know you probably don't hear this very often but I was getting worried that I might not find you!"

"Ha ha, very clever." said one of them with a sarcastic tone as she rolled her eyes.

"Have you been to the Gym already?" asked the other one with a grin. "You look quite happy for somebody who had had a miserable failure."

Jake chuckled. He really was going to enjoy this. "Talk to the hand." He held out the hand in which he was holding his Rainbow Badge in front of them. "Or talk to the Badge. Whichever one you prefer."

The two stared at the Rainbow Badge with their mouths open. "This can't be!" exclaimed one of them in surprise. "Did you steal it? You stole it, didn't you?!"

"No. My Eevee earned me this Badge fair and square." Eevee smiled a proud smile and puffed his chest, occasionally checking to see whether Vulpix was looking at him. She was. Jake couldn't help but laugh as the two trainers in front of him helplessly looked at each other, as if trying to think of a way out. "You can even call Erika and ask her if you don't believe me." There was a short silence. "Well, let's get this over with. A deal's a deal."

_A few minutes later_

Jake walked over to the main counter at the ground floor of the department store with the two trainers from Erika's Gym following closely behind. "Do we really have to do this?" asked one of them.

"Yes." said Jake, looking at them with a smug expression. "You lost the bet." He then approached the lady at the counter. "Excuse me; do you happen to have an address system or something in this department store? You know, where you talk into a microphone and everybody who's inside the building can hear your announcements?"

"Yes, we do."

"Can I use that for a moment?"

"I'm sorry, it's meant only for the use of the staff and-"

"Here's 20 bucks."

"Oh, go right ahead."

Jake took the microphone and handed it to one of the two girls. "First things first; I want you both to say your full names and that you're both trainers at the Celadon Gym."

"What for?" asked one of them, obviously annoyed.

"So that people will make fun of you, duh!" said Jake as he rolled his eyes. He then took out a piece of paper from the pocket of his jacket and handed it to them. "Then read what's written on this sheet of paper. Oh, and make sure to divide the speech between the two of you. I want people to recognize your annoying voices."

The two hesitantly took the microphone and the sheet of paper from Jake and, after they had said their names on the announcement system they began to read what he had written on it.

"We would just like to say that we are the two most stuck-up girls to have ever lived on this planet. We're two snobs who mistreat pokémon just because they're not grass types and we're stupid. We are shallow girls who refuse to acknowledge that there are different people with different tastes in this world. Also we were fools to mock fire-type pokémon as well as what has to be the cutest Eevee that exists. We like to make fun of cute pokémon who are not grass-types because we're mean. This Eevee as well, as every single other pokémon in the world, has a bigger brain than the two of us combined. P.S Fire-types are awesome. They rule, we drool."

"Well, my work here is done. Justice has been served." said Jake as some of the people around them began to laugh at the two or yell 'boo' at them. Someone even threw a tomato. "Maybe this will teach you not to be two bullies. I'm going to be the greatest fire-type master there ever was. Don't you two ever forget it!" *****

_At the Gym_

Erika and Jacob were just about to begin their rematch when some of the other Gym trainers arrived and ran over in their Gym Leader's direction, looking completely out of breath. "What's the matter?" asked Erika, looking confused.

"_We're_ the matter." said a voice from where the Gym trainers had just entered. Jacob and Erika looked in the direction of the voice and saw a large group of Team Plasma grunts. Jacob gulped. He didn't know why Team Plasma was at the Gym but he did know that these guys meant bad news.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Erika with a frown.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves, Gym Leader of Celadon City." said another Team Plasma grunt. "We're Team Plasma." Jacob then realized that there were quite a lot of Team Plasma grunts and that he, as well as Erika and the other Gym trainers, were outnumbered and in serious trouble. The same Team Plasma grunt took out a walkie talkie out of his bag and spoke into it. "Sir, you may proceed to the department store."

"What about the Gym and the Gym Leader?" asked a voice which came from the device the Team Plasma grunt was holding.

"Consider them neutralized." said the Team Plasma grunt a sinister smile. "There'll be no Gym Leaders standing in our way this time."

_Back at the department store_

"What to do?" asked Jake with a sigh of boredom as he wondered through one of the upper floors of the department store. It is true that he wasn't very fond of crowded places like this but it's not like he had anything better to do. He figured he could always go watch Jacob's battle with Erika and cheer him up but, as far as he was concerned, the match had already begun. This meant that he wasn't going to be able to get to the Gym in time in order to see it.

After a while of looking around his attention was caught by two rather noisy teenagers; a boy and a girl, who seemed to be a little younger than he was. The girl's clothing was quite unusual. It made him think of ninjas. The two appeared to be in the middle of a heated argument.

"Out of all the trainers out there, the best trainer would have to be my dad." said the boy.

"Ha! You don't know a thing!" exclaimed the girl with a smug expression. "The best trainer in the world is Koga, one of the Elite Four! Namely - my dad!"

"You are mistaken. My dad treats poké-"

"Please stop this!" exclaimed the girl once again, cutting him short. "Why don't you just admit that my dad is the true trainer?!"

The boy looked around for a moment and, to Jake's surprised, stared directly at him. "You were listening, right?" he asked, "You agree my dad is greater, right?"

"Um…" This had to be one of the more awkward situations Jake has ever found himself in. "I don't know you. I don't know both of you."

The two Gym Leaders looked at each other for a moment. Falkner was about to say something but Janine once again interrupted. "It's not often Gym Leaders don't get recognized. I'm Janine, I lead the Fuchsia Gym."

"My names Falkner, I lead the flying-type Gym in Violet City."

"Well, um… I'm Jake. I lead nothing." Do people always randomly run into Gym Leaders or was it just his luck? He looked at Janine for a moment. Something about her name and her outfit seemed familiar. "Janine from Fuchsia City… The name's familiar from some reason."

"Well I am a Gym Leader and a daughter of one of the Elite Four!"

"Stop bragging!" said Falkner, annoyed. This only seemed to encourage her, however.

"No, that's not the reason…" said Jake. After thinking for a moment Jake suddenly remembered why Janine seemed familiar. When he had first met Erika and Jasmine by the fountain two days ago Janine somehow came up during their conversation. Erika had somehow ended up with the conclusion that Jasmine thought Janine's way of dressing was embarrassing. Or maybe Erika had said that just to amuse herself. "Oh, I remember now."

"What?" asked Janine.

"Oh, nothing." He looked at Falkner. "So… Violet City… That's in Johto, right?" Falkner nodded. "Do you happen to know a girl named Jasmine? She's from Olivine City."

"Oh, of course!" said Falkner. All the Gym Leaders from both Kanto and Johto knew each other quite well. "Jasmine's the-"

"Hey, don't try and change the subject!" said Janine, cutting Falkner short before he could inform Jake that Jasmine was also a Gym Leader. She looked at Jake. "Would you please tell this daddy's boy that-"

"Daddy's boy?" asked Falkner, his face turning red.

Janine ignored him. "-that my dad is a much better trainer than his?"

"Uh…" said Jake nervously. How come he always ends up getting dragged into things like this? "I, um… I don't know them."

"My father's one of the Elite Four." said Janine (once again) with pride. "His dad is just a former Gym Leader!"

"Hey!" said Falkner, frowning.

"Well, uh… I guess that an Elite Four member does sound better than a former Gym Leader, but-"

"Ha!" exclaimed Janine as she looked at Falkner with a victorious grin. "In your face!"

"Wait!" said Jake, not wanting them to get the wrong message. "I never said that an Elite Four member is necessarily better than a Gym Leader!"

"Ha!" exclaimed Falkner, much to Janine's annoyance.

"I think that, um, there's no way to determine unless they battle or something…" said Jake

The two Gym Leaders fell silent. "I guess you're right." said Falkner after a short silence. He then looked at Jake. "Since we're already talking about fathers, what does yours do?"

"He's dead."

"Oh…" There was a much longer silence this time. "This is, um… awkward."

"Yeah, it is."

"I'm sorry..."

"Not a problem." There was another silence.

"Hey," said Janine after a short while, "what do you two think is-" she was cut short when all the lights suddenly went off. It was then that she, Jake and Falkner realized that there just happened to be no windows on the walls of the floor they were in, which was rather inconvenient. The only source of light they had was the flame at the tip of Charmander's tail, but it wasn't enough.

"What's going on?" asked Jake, confused. Around them people (trainers and whatever else) were also confused and some of them even looked worried.

"Venomoth!" exclaimed Janine, releasing one of her pokémon. "Use Flash!" The entire floor then became lit with light produced by Janine's Venomoth. (I looked it up and a Venomoth can learn the move Flash with a TM.)

"What's up with the electricity?" asked Falkner, also confused.

"Beats me." said Janine, looking suspicious (probably as a result of her ninja instincts). "I have a bad feeling about this."

Jake was about to say something when something rather worrying caught his eyes. "What's that?" he asked, pointing up at the ceiling. Falkner and Janine also looked up. There appeared to be a white-colored gas coming out of the ventilation system. All around them people suddenly began coughing and, after a few seconds, they did too.

"Pidgeot, come out!" said Falkner after a few coughs as he sent out his Pidgeot. "Use your Gust attack in order to clear the smoke!"

"Good idea!" said Janine, "Venomoth, you can help too!"

Having the two pokémon flap their wings like that certainly helped but Jake soon realized that the gas wasn't really leaving the room, seeing how there were no windows. "Charmander, Vulpix," he pointed at the nearest wall, "use Flamethrower on that wall! Make a hole in it so the smoke can get out!" Hopefully having both of them use Flamethrower at the same time and on the exact same spot would be enough to break the wall. Jake, Falkner and Janine were more than relieved once Charmander and Vulpix managed to create a hole in the wall (and a rather large hole, too). After a short while the smoke was completely cleared. Jake breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw that Eevee was still standing next to him. Yes, the little pokémon was quite startled, but at least he hadn't gotten lost or anything.

"Alright, way to go!" said Janine with a smile before once again scanning the area around them with suspicion. "Something is definitely not right here." She and Falkner then began to look around. They both approached the other trainers who were there. Some of them seemed to have breathed a larger amount of whatever that gas was in comparison to Jake, Janine and Falkner did. After all the three were close to Pidgeot and Venomoth while the two pokémon were flapping their wings. It was kind of like a safe zone.

"Is everybody alright?" asked Falkner while Janine helped the dizzier trainers to their feet.

Jake remained where he was and looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. From the direction of the staircase leading to the lower floors he could see a small amount of gas slowly making its way upwards. (However there was no reason for them to worry about that because of the hole that Charmander and Vulpix had made in the wall). The entire building must have been filled with whatever that gas was and, from the looks of it, there probably weren't any windows in the lower floors either (the designer of the building probably wasn't a very bright person). Whoever was there must have already passed out, and Jake knew that trying to take the stairs in order to go down was out of the question. Taking the elevator was also not possible, seeing how the power had been cut off.

He decided to help Janine and Falkner with the other trainers but stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the sound of footsteps coming from below. There were people making their way up the stairs, which was quite peculiar considering the fact that the lower part of the building was filled with that strange sleeping gas. "Janine, Falkner!" he said, getting the attention of the two Gym Leaders. "I think somebody's coming up the stairs. They might need some help!"

The three were about to walk over to the staircase but they came to a halt when a group of Team Plasma grunts emerged. They were wearing gas masks, which explained how they had been able to make their way up the stairs. "You again?!" asked Janine with a frown. Jake figured that Team Plasma must have also paid a visit or two to Fuchsia City, which explained why Janine reacted the way she had upon seeing them. "I should have known!"

"Hey, what's this?" asked one of the grunts. "Nobody's passed out here!"

"Wait a minute," said another grunt, looking at Janine with a frown, "you're that brat who interrupted us back at Fuchsia City!"

"What?!" asked another grunt with obvious annoyance. "Are those stupid Gym Leaders everywhere?! We planned on dealing only with this city's Gym Leader, not with _two_!"

"Make that three!" said Falkner with a frown. "I've heard about you thugs!"

"Wait, what do you mean 'dealing only with this city's Gym Leader'?" asked Jake with a frown. It took him a few seconds to connect the dots after thinking about how Misty had helped him, Jacob and Melanie back at the daycare at Cerulean City.

"We can't afford to have anybody get in our way!" said another one of the Team Plasma grunts. He then looked at his comrades, "We've already taken plenty of pokémon on the way up here. This operation is a complete success." The group then retreated down the stairs. Janine, Falkner and Jake would have followed them but it was out of the question, seeing how they didn't have gas masks.

"They're getting away!" said Janine angrily.

"We have to stop them and hurry to the Gym!" said Jake. "I think Erika's in trouble!" Suddenly he remembered that Jacob was also at the Gym. He facepalmed in frustration. "My friend's also there!"

"But how do we get down?" asked Janine.

Falkner thought for a moment. "We'll use the hole in the wall!" The three ran over to the wall and looked downwards. It was a pretty big drop, but they were able to see the Team Plasma grunts making their way away from the department store by foot. He looked at Jake and Janine. "I'll fly after them with my Pidgeot. You two should go to the Gym to make sure Erika's alright."

Janine nodded. "Okay, sounds like a plan." Falkner climbed onto the back of his Pidgeot. He was about to take off when Janine suddenly spoke again. "Falkner, wait!"

"What is it?" he asked, looking at her.

"Be careful, will you?"

"I will." said Falkner. Janine watched him fly off.

"You two are secretly in love with each other, aren't you?" asked Jake after a short silence.

"What?!" asked Janine, blushing furiously. "No! What makes you think that?!"

"How are _we_ going to get down?" he asked, changing the subject. Now that he was thinking about it they should have asked Falkner to help them get down before he left.

"That shouldn't be a problem." said Janine as he returned her Venomoth into its pokéball and released one of her other pokémon instead. "My Crobat will carry us down one at a time. Then we'll be able to head to Erika's Gym."

"Um… Is it safe?" asked Jake, obviously a little apprehensive. He was also worried about whether he'll be able to help Jacob and Erika or not, since Team Plasma must have obviously sent a large group of grunts in order to make sure that Erika's unable to get to the department store. However, the fact that he had another trainer to help him brought him some comfort, especially when considering that Janine was also a Gym Leader.

"Of course." said Janine with a confident smile. "My Crobat is of the top percentage!"

******* Forcing them to say that to the entire department store was quite mean of him but you should look at it from a more comical perspective. Besides, they had it coming.**


	17. Janine Has a Plan!

Being carried down from the fourth floor of a building with a gigantic hole in its wall by a bat is certainly not a very soothing or relaxing experience. But, the way Jake saw it, the important thing was that he and his pokémon had safely landed on solid ground and that they could now proceed to help Jacob and Erika at the Gym. Deep inside he was hoping that they didn't need his help, but he knew that the odds that Team Plasma had sent a large group of grunts in order to secure the Gym were pretty high. He didn't know how exactly he and Janine were supposed to get through so many Team Plasma grunts and rescue Jacob and Erika on their own. From the looks of it (people were running around in panic), they really were on their own.

Jake looked in the direction the grunts who had stolen the pokémon at the department store (and Falkner) took off in. The flying-type Gym Leader was already out of sight. It was possible that he had caught up to Team Plasma's squad and that he was already confronting them. It made him think about the two Team Plasma grunts he had confronted at Mt. Moon (the two who had a bag filled with stolen pokémon with them). If he could go back in time and stop them from getting away with so many pokémon he would. But there was no way to change what has already happened, and even though there was nothing he could do about that now he still hated himself for not doing anything back when he had had the chance to.

Right now Falkner was taking care of returning the stolen pokémon, which meant that Jake could morally allow himself to focus on helping his friend and Erika, but he had already made up his mind that he would never let Team Plasma steal anymore pokémon if he could help it. This meant that he had to get to Jacob and Erika as fast as possible, because there was no reason for Team Plasma to not steal their pokémon as well. After all a Gym Leader's pokémon are obviously well-trained, and Team Plasma can probably use some strong pokémon.

"Alright, let's hit the road!" said Janine, having just landed down next to Jake after getting a lift from her Crobat.

"There will probably be a lot of them when we get there." said Jake as they both began to run in the direction of Erika's Gym (with Charmander, Eevee, Vulpix and Crobat following closely behind).

"Obviously. I wouldn't expect anything else from a bunch of cowards." said Janine as she rolled her eyes. It was then that Jake noticed that Janine was running very (very) fast. He would have asked her to slow down but he realized that the faster they got to the Gym the better. Also, the Gym wasn't very far from the department store. The only reason it had taken him and Jacob such a long time to find it after first arriving at Celadon City was because they had no idea where they were going.

"Maybe it'll be a good idea to wait for some help!" said Jake after a while, thinking that they might as well try to do things the smart way. "The police will probably be here soon!"

"We can't risk it!" said Janine as the Gym came into view. "What if they hurt Erika or your friend? Or their pokémon?"

"True." said Jake with a sigh. As much as he preferred to do things the safer way (which was also the way that was less likely to fail miserably), Janine was right. There was no telling when it came to brutes like Team Plasma. They might hurt Erika, Jacob, the other Gym trainers and / or their pokémon. There was also a chance that Team Plasma would decide to make their getaway before the police arrived.

"Alright…" he said as they both stood in front of the entrance of the Gym, trying to catch his breath. Charmander, Vulpix and Eevee, who were much smaller than he was, seemed a little more fatigued. Crobat, like Janine, didn't seem tired at all. "How are we going to do this?"

"Have no fear, citizen!" said Janine with a tone of leadership as she returned her Crobat into its pokéball. Jake raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"_I_ have a plan!" she slowly and gently pushed the door of the Gym opened. "Follow my lead and be quiet." You know how in cartoons when one of the characters is trying to be sneaky then he / she can somehow teleport from behind one object to another? You see them take a peek from behind a tree, for example, and then from behind a closer tree and so on. Janine proved that she would make an excellent cartoon character. Jake and his pokémon simply followed, making sure to walk as silently as they could and to not make any noise.

They didn't see even a single Gym trainer inside the Gym, which was an easy way to tell that Team Plasma had either already been or still was inside the Gym. As they began to slowly come closer to the back of the Gym (where the official battlefield was located) Janine came to a stop and waved her hand in Jake's direction, silently telling him to also stop. "There's somebody down that hallway." she whispered.

She went to have a look (carefully and quietly, of course). There were two Team Plasma grunts guarding the hallway that lead to the back of the Gym. This meant that Erika and all the others were still there. In order to not alert the (probably) big amount of Team Plasma members who were also there Jake and Janine had to think of a smart way to get past the two. Janine slowly returned to where Jake was waiting. "There are two of them there." she whispered. "I've never been here before. Do you happen to know if there's another way to the back of the Gym? If they put somebody to stand guard then Erika, your friend and the other Gym trainers are most likely still here."

Jake thought for a moment and then shook his head. "No," he whispered, "the only way to proceed is to go this way."

Janine thought for a moment. She took another look down the hallway. The two Team Plasma grunts were standing with their backs to her. She went back to Jake, "Alright, leave it to me. I have an idea." She then released her Venomoth once again. "Okay, Venomoth, listen carefully. I need you to use Sleep Powder on the two jerks that are standing over there." Venomoth appeared to be slightly reluctant about attacking two humans. "They're from Team Plasma." whispered Janine after a short silence. That was more than enough to convince the pokémon to carry out her order.

Venomoth was able to silently fly over to the two without them noticing and, after a few seconds, the two fell asleep. They both just happened to have a very long rope with them, so Janine tied them both up and shut their mouths by taking off their hats and shoving them into their mouths. "There; here's a good use for your ridiculous hats." she said quietly and with a frown.

Jake couldn't help but chuckle. "Well played."

"Naturally." said Jasmine with a grin as they both continued. After only a few seconds of silent walking they were able to hear talking and even laughing ahead of them. Again Janine told Jake to wait while she went to examine, only that this time she returned with a rather worried expression on her face.

"What is it?" asked Jake quietly.

"Erika and the Gym trainers are there." whispered Janine. "There's also this guy who looks your age and wears a stupid looking hat."

"Yeah," said Jake with a sigh. "That's Jacob."

"They're all tied-up in the center of the battlefield." explained Janine. "There's a big bag in the far-left corner. I bet all their pokémon are inside."

"How many Team Plasma members are we talking about here?" asked Jake after having gathered the courage to ask the question.

"There are about 15 of them there." said Janine with annoyance. "I didn't stay long in order to count because I didn't want them to see me."

"I understand that, unlike the two from before, they don't have their backs to us."

Janine shook her head. "Using Sleep Powder won't work this time. They'll see Venomoth for sure. Even if they don't then they'll figure out what's going on as soon as one of them passes out because they're spread out all over the place. There's no way to get them all at the same time."

The two said nothing for a short while. It seemed to both of them as if they were at a dead end. "Hey," said Jake eventually, getting an idea, "do you have smoke grenades?"

"What?" asked Janine, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I thought you're like those ninjas in movies that carry smoke grenades with them…" It had to be the most stupid thing he has ever suggested, but they had to think of some way to get to Erika and the others.

Janine stared at him for a moment before smiling. "You're a genius!" she said, managing to keep her voice down despite her excitement.

"So you do have smoke grenades?"

"…" Janine face palmed. "No." She released her Weezing from its pokéball. "Weezing, use Smokescreen and don't stop until I tell you." She looked at her Venomoth, "I want you to flap your wings so that all the smoke will head towards the back of the Gym.

Weezing and Venomoth did as told. Soon enough the smoke began to enter the area where Erika, Jacob, the Gym trainers and the Team Plasma grunts were. "What's with all the smoke?" asked one of them. Jake and Janine meanwhile made sure to stay out of sight.

"Go check it out." said another. "If it's a fire then we better leave. This whole Gym is flammable."

Janine listened carefully for a moment and then looked at Jake. "Two of them are heading this way." she whispered. "Okay, Venomoth, when they come here I want you to use Sleep Powder again." Because of the smoke the two Team Plasma members were barely able to see a thing. It also caused them to cough a lot, which made it easier to determine just how close they were and when they were going to come around the corner. Venomoth was able to put them both to sleep without too much trouble. Jake was rather amazed at how Venomoth was able to tell exactly when to 'spring into action' just by listening. There was no doubt that Janine had trained her pokémon well.

After a while the same Team Plasma grunt who had sent his two comrades to investigate the smoke began to get impatient. It was starting to get hard to see from where he, the other grunts and their prisoners were. "Where are those two numskulls?!"

"If we wait long enough maybe you'll be able to put all of them to sleep." said Jake with a smile.

"That won't work." said Janine as she shook her head.

"Why not?" asked Jake with an annoyed expression. He was unable to think of a safer way to rescue Jacob and Erika.

"Soon Erika and the others are going to have a hard time breathing. We don't have that much time." explained Janine.

Jake let out a sigh of despair. "You're right, I completely forgot about that." He looked at Eevee, Charmander and Vulpix. The three pokémon were still patiently waiting next to him.

"But it also means that nobody will be able to see anything." continued the poison-type Gym Leader. "That's when we move in and untie everyone."

"How will we untie everyone if we can't see anything?" asked Jake, hoping that Janine had paid _that_ part of her plan some thought.

"Leave that part to me." said Janine, "I'll lead you to them and then I'll go fetch their pokémon from that bag." She returned her Venomoth and Weezing into their pokéballs after a few more seconds. "Okay, this should be more than enough."

Jake looked at his own pokémon. "I'm going to return you two to your pokéballs for a few moments." he said to Eevee and Vulpix. "I don't want you to get lost in all that smoke." He returned the two into their pokéballs and looked at Charmander. "Charmander, you're coming with me." Charmander nodded and hopped onto his shoulders. "Okay," he said after taking in a deep breath, looking at Janine. "Let's do this."

"Make sure you stay close to me until we get to Erika." said the purple-haired girl with a nod. "Don't get lost."

The two then broke into a run and headed straight into the fog Weezing had produced. They were able to hear coughing and confused yelling all around them. After a few seconds Janine looked at him, "Keep running straight!" she said before taking off in a different direction. Jake had no idea how she was able to tell that all _he_ had to do was to keep running straight or how she was able to tell where in the world she was going but he decided not to question her.

After a few more seconds of running he was able to see a group of figures sitting ahead of him. Only when he got really close he was able to verify that the group consisted of Erika, Jacob and a few more trainers. "What's up?" he asked in between coughs. He was more than happy to have found them and not a group of Team Plasma grunts.

"Jake?!" asked Jacob, looking surprised (and relieved) to see his friend there. "What are you doing here?!"

"What does it look like I'm doing here?" asked Jake sarcastically as he kneeled beside Erika and began to untie her. "Charmander, use your teeth and your claws to help me out." Charmander nodded and began to bite the rope around Jacob.

"What's going on at the department store?" asked Erika, looking worried.

"Team Plasma filled the entire place with sleeping gas and stole all the trainers' pokémon." said Jake as he continued untying her.

"What?! That's terrible! I must go there and-"

"Don't worry." said Jake as he successfully untied her. "Somebody already went after them. Right now _we_ need to get out of here." He was pretty sure that Falkner was alright. Whether _that_ was true or not didn't matter as long as they were still stuck inside the Gym.

"They took our pokémon and placed them all in that bag!" said Jacob once he had also been freed. He and Erika began to help Jake and Charmander untie the other Gym trainers.

"I know, don't worry."

"Did you cause all of this smoke?" asked Jacob before a worried look appeared on his face. "You didn't set something on fire, did you?!"

"No. The smoke came from-"

"Hey, there's a trainer here!" came the voice of a Team Plasma grunt. After a short moment Jake heard a loud smack which was followed by a yelp of pain. That poor guy must have run straight into Janine.

"Yes, that's where the smoke came from." Jake knew that they had to hurry now that the Team Plasma members knew they were there. After a few seconds Janine arrived next to him with the bag containing all of the pokémon belonging to Jacob and the others.

"Janine!" said Erika with surprise. "Where did you come from?"

"I'll explain everything later!" said Janine, looking around nervously. "They know I'm here, we have to hurry!" She opened the bag and literally spilled all of the pokéballs that were inside it.

Erika took a close look and, to Jake surprise, picked up six pokéballs without a second thought. He would have asked how she was able to recognize the pokéballs which her pokémon were in, seeing how they all looked the same, but there really wasn't any time to waste. He turned around (with the intention of trying to remember where the exit was located) and saw a Team Plasma grunt standing right in front of him with an angry look on his face.

"You!" said he in anger. "I nearly got killed trying to steal that pokémon egg!"

Jake stared at him for a short moment before suddenly remembering who he was. "Do you want a freaking medal?" asked he in his sarcastic tone, raising an eyebrow.

"Come on, you and me! We'll fight for it!"

The Team Plasma grunt then held out a pokéball. Jake slapped it out of his hand and then gave him what had to be the most powerful punch he has ever received. "Oh, I'm sorry!" he said as he looked down on the barely conscious and bruised pokémon thief in front of him (who now had a nosebleed). "Did you mean a pokémon battle? You should be more specific next time!"

"Okay, does everybody have their pokémon back?!" asked Janine. Jacob, Erika and everybody else nodded. "Let's get out of here! Follow me!"

"Wait a second!" said Jake as he kneeled beside the almost-unconscious Team Plasma grunt and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform.

"Jake, we don't have time for this!" said Jacob.

"Yeah," said Janine, "the smoke is starting to clear away, come on!"

Jake ignored them and glared at the helpless Team Plasma grunt beneath him. "Speak up, where are all the pokémon from before?!" There probably wasn't going to be much Jake was going to be able to do about all the stolen pokémon from Mt. Moon but he could at least try. In fact not trying to correct his mistake of not saving all those pokémon in the first place would make him hate himself even more.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Do I look like a fool?! Where are all the stolen pokémon you and your stupid partner had with you when I first met you at Mt. Moon?!"

"Alright, I'll talk! Just don't hurt me!" said the Team Plasma grunt in a pleading tone. "We have a base here in Celadon City. It's located exactly where Team Rocket's base used to be a few years ago, beneath the game corner!"

Releasing his grip on the Team Plasma grunt, Jake stood back up and looked at everybody else. "Let's go." None of them knew how come other Team Plasma grunts hadn't found them while they were still there, even _with_ the smoke all over the place, but it's not like they had anything to complain about in that regard.

The group quickly made their way outside, which finally allowed them to get some fresh air. Outside people were no longer running around in panic but they all still seemed pretty shaken up from the events of the day. There was no sign of Falkner anywhere, which was a little worrying as well. Some of the people outside were able to recognize Erika the moment she had stepped outside of the Gym. Because of all that has happened they were obviously happy and relieved to see their Gym Leader, and they all approached and began asking questions like 'what happened?', 'where have you been?' and 'why is there smoke coming out of the Gym?'.

Erika would have attempted to answer them and to calm them down, but that was when the Team Plasma grunts also ran out of the Gym, having realized that their prisoners had somehow escaped. "Don't think we're going to let you get away!" said one of them. "We've kept you occupied long enough, but we're still going to take away your pokémon!" Erika frowned. "You and your grass-type ladies don't stand a chance; we came here prepared to deal with grass-type pokémon!"

"You're not dealing just with grass-types now!" said one of the trainers who were standing behind Erika and the other Gym trainers. A few more trainers joined in, and soon Team Plasma realized that they were outnumbered.

The same Team Plasma grunt broke into laughter, "What, do you think you've won? Is that it?" He laughed once again. "We're just a few members of Team Plasma. You can't expect to weaken us just by putting _us_ away. Besides, our plan to steal pokémon from the department store was a complete success." There was a short silence. "Face it, Gym Leaders of Celadon City and Fuchsia City, you _lost_."

"No they did not!" Everybody looked up and saw Falkner and his Pidgeot standing on the roof of Erika's Gym. Jake grinned. He knew it he could trust Falkner, and it wasn't just because Falkner was a Gym Leader.

"Hey Falkner!" exclaimed Janine with a huge smile, which was replaced by a blush when she saw Jake look at her with an 'I told you' expression. She tried to ignore him and took out a pokéball.

"Who the heck is this kid?" asked one of the Team Plasma members.

"I chased down your friends and took back every single pokémon they had stolen." said Falkner with a frown. "They're all safe and sound in the pokémon centers now. _You_ are the ones who lost."

The Team Plasma grunts seemed as if they weren't completely sure whether Falkner was just lying in order to upset them or whether he was telling the truth, but they did know that they had to make their escape as soon as possible. "You will all hear from Team Plasma again! This isn't over-" he was about to finish his sentence when he and the other Team Plasma grunts suddenly collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Everybody then noticed that Janine's Venomoth was flying above the group and spraying them with Sleep Powder.

"That should keep their mouths shut…" said Janine as she rolled her eyes and returned Venomoth into its pokéball.

After the police had arrived to arrest the thieves Jacob and Jake went ahead and approached Erika, Janine and Falkner, who appeared to be in the middle of a conversation.

"It's a good thing the two of you were here…" said Erika with a sigh to the two Gym Leaders in front of her, "I don't even want to think what would have happened if it weren't for you…"

"We're both glad we could help." said Falkner. He then noticed Jake and Jacob. "Jake helped too."

"Listen, Erika," said Jake, changing the subject. "We need to go check out that ex-Team Rocket base at the game corner. If what that Team Plasma grunt said is true then there must be dozens if not hundreds of stolen pokémon there."

"You're right," said Erika, "it's worth examining."

"Then let's go."

"Oh, no!" said Erika, much to Jake and Jacob's surprise.

"Why not?"

"You've done more than enough today." said Erika with a smile. "Janine, Falkner, the other trainers from the Gym, the police and I will go examine the place right away."

"But I want to help." said he with an annoyed look on his face. He was really hoping that the stolen pokémon that Team Plasma grunt had had with him back at Mt. Moon were there, and if they were then he wanted to help rescue them.

"It's okay, we'll handle it. It's our duty as Gym Leaders. There's no need for other trainers to risk themselves and their pokémon."

Jake would have protested, but he realized that arguing with Erika wasn't going to help. "Alright…" he said with a sigh, "But let me know how everything turns out, alright?"

"We will." said Erika with a nod. "Here, the three of us will give you our phone numbers." After the four had registered each other's phone numbers Erika looked at Jacob. "I'm sorry we didn't get to have our rematch."

"That's okay." said Jacob with a smile. "Some things are more important than a Gym challenge." To be honest he was too relieved about the fact that he still had his pokémon with him in order to worry about earning the Rainbow Badge from Erika.

"Feel free to drop by the Gym tomorrow." said Erika, "I'll take you on then." With that she and the two other Gym Leaders left.


	18. Hatchling

"So let me get this straight…" said Jacob as he and his friend made their way back towards the inn they were staying in while they were at Celadon City. At first they had rented a room for only two nights but all that has happened (Jacob losing his Gym battle and Jake suddenly deciding to challenge Erika as well) left them with no choice but to stay in Celadon City a little longer than expected. They were going to have to stay in that inn for at least another night because Jacob wasn't going to be able to challenge Erika to a rematch until the following day. They might end up having to stay even longer, considering the possibility of Jacob losing to Erika again.

Either way, Jake didn't mind. It's not like he was in a hurry to head to the next town in order to collect more Gym Badges. Earning the Rainbow Badge from Erika was a complete coincidence (as weird as it might sound, seeing how he did challenge Erika to a battle). Despite having won the Rainbow Badge (and despite how it felt like a great achievement) he still had no intention to try to earn anymore Badges.

Battling Gym Leaders was certainly going to be a very good way to get better, though. Janine had certainly proven earlier that day that she was a very skilled trainer and Falkner, even though Jake hadn't had a chance to see him battle, was most likely very good as well. After all he did manage to get all the stolen pokémon back from Team Plasma all by himself.

"I already told you, Jacob, there's nothing to get straight here." said Jake as he stretched his arms and yawned. Charmander, who was sitting on his shoulders, stretched her own tiny arms and let out a yawn as well. It was like they were sometimes doing things simultaneously through telepathy. "I met them both at the department store. That is really all there is to it." Eevee and Vulpix were walking next to him and, as usual, Vulpix was doing her best to make it look like she was paying Eevee no attention whatsoever.

"Don't you find it funny how we keep running into Gym Leaders all the time?" asked Jacob with a smile.

"Not really." said Jake with a shrug. He had a habit of disagreeing with Jacob about humor-related matters, which meant that whenever one of them was laughing about something the other one wasn't. "It's cool to get to meet them. Those we've met so far are great trainers who care deeply for pokémon and people." There was a short silence. "I wouldn't call it funny. If anything, we're lucky. I would have probably ended up losing my pokémon if Janine and Falkner hadn't been at the department store and without them saving you and returning the stolen pokémon would have also been impossible. Heck, if it weren't for Misty we would have had our pokémon stolen from us back at Cerulean City."

"True…" said Jacob with annoyance. He didn't like admitting it but, in comparison to every single one of the Gym Leaders they had come across so far, they were quite helpless. The Gym Leaders were a lot more skilled and experienced than both he and Jake combined, and he hated thinking that, if it ever comes down to it, he might not be strong enough to stop Team Plasma from taking his pokémon away from him. He also hated thinking about how this meant that there wasn't much he could do to help other trainers like Gym Leaders do. As depressing as it was to think about, it was also a motivation for him to get better. He didn't want to ask Jake whether he saw things the same way, but he was quite certain that there were some similarities between the ways they each regarded the matter.

Regardless of how Jacob had no intention to speak of this it seemed as if Jake had the same thing on his mind as well. "Don't get me wrong, I'm really grateful for their help," said he, "but it's frustrating to know that we're not very capable of defending ourselves and our pokémon… What if we walk through some cave and a large group of them shows up? There probably won't be anybody to help us then. If my parents and sister were still alive and needed my help now I probably wouldn't have been able to help them either." Jacob said nothing. He should have known that Team Plasma would eventually remind his friend of what Team Rocket had done to his family.

"At first I had left on this journey because I wanted to forget about my past, but now it's more than just that." said Jake after a rather long silence. "I need to become a better trainer so that I don't end up losing everything that I have at the moment of truth like my father had." Technically his father didn't lose _everything_, seeing how Jake was still alive, but Jacob knew that saying that would be a rather tactless thing to do. "It's not like I have much, and I know that up until about a week ago I wanted nothing to do with pokémon, but they're like my family now."

The two then concluded the rest of the walk to the inn in silence. It was already early evening by the time they got there which meant, in Jacob's point of view, that the only things that were now standing between him and his rematch with Erika were another hour or two and then a night's sleep. That is, as long as nothing bad would happen to her while raiding that Team Plasma base beneath the game corner. Jacob was about to ask his friend one of those random questions such as 'how do you think Erika and the others are doing?' but he didn't get the chance to because all of a sudden Jake's Xtransceiver began ringing.

Jake, realizing that it was probably Erika, immediately picked up the call. "Hey, how's everything going?" he asked as her picture appeared on his screen. Jacob could tell that Jake was ready to spring to his feet and run to assist them in case she told him that she needed any help.

"It isn't that much of a base down here." said Erika. "It's more of a storage place. We found some equipment and a lot of stolen pokéballs and the place wasn't even heavily guarded."

Jake couldn't help but smile. It was a huge relief to find out that all the stolen pokémon the two Team Plasma grunts from Mt. Moon had with them as well as other stolen pokémon had been retrieved. That didn't at all change the fact that he should have tried to rescue these pokémon himself back when he had had the chance to, but it was still a relief. "That's great news." he said, "Are you three alright?"

"We're fine, there's no reason for you to worry." There was a short silence. "Anyways I just called because I did promise to let you know how everything turns out."

"Thanks, I appreciate that."

"Is your friend with you?" asked Erika.

"Yes, Jacob's here too."

"Tell him that I'll be back at the Gym tomorrow by noon after I take care of a couple of things regarding today's events."

"It's okay, I heard you." said Jacob.

"Are you eavesdropping on my phone call?" asked Jake with a raised eyebrow.

"You're on speaker."

"Oh, right."

Erika chuckled. "So everything worked out in the end. Oh, and thank you for helping us back at the Gym."

Jake then said goodbye and hung up the call. He and Jacob sat in silence for a while before Jacob decided to turn on the small TV they had in their room. Jake wasn't really in the mood to watch anything so he just lay down on his bed with Charmander, who snuggled up against her trainer's belly, Vulpix and Eevee, who tried to cuddle with Vulpix once again. She frowned and shoved him off the bed with one of her paws. He fell on the floor and got back up before lying down away from Vulpix with a sad look on his face. Vulpix didn't seem too affected by the cuteness of his expression though.

Jake would have continued to ignore the TV but Jacob got his attention by saying "Hey, there's a live match that is being broadcasted from the Sinnoh League."

"That's great." said Jake with a yawn.

"I completely forgot that the Sinnoh League Season has already started." said Jacob as he watched the match with obvious eagerness.

"How does it work in the Pokémon Leagues?" asked Jake with a small amount of curiosity. "I mean, since you've already brought up the subject." ******

"Up until a few months ago," began Jacob, "a trainer could challenge the Elite Four and the champion once he / or she had the region's 8 Badges. Now, however, since there seem to be more and more trainers who wish to challenge the Pokémon League, they've changed the system completely."

"The whole idea of 'just challenging the Elite Four once you get 8 Badges' sounds the simplest." said Jake with a raised eyebrow.

"It is, but recently there have been too many challengers." explained Jacob. "So, instead of being able to challenge the Elite Four at any given time, each Pokémon League 'opens its gates' at a specific time of the year."

"Is that why you called it 'the Sinnoh League Season'?"

"Yes."

"So all the challengers come during that specific period of time? Doesn't that make the whole problem of 'too many challengers' even bigger?" asked Jake with a confused look upon his face.

"You didn't let me finish." said Jacob. "It can even take more than an entire week sometimes, depending on the amount of challengers, but each challenger gets to face the Elite Four when his / her turn arrives. Those who defeat all four of them move on to the next level. After all the challengers had had their chance, whether they managed to defeat the Elite Four or not, the Pokémon League proceeds to the next level. The next level takes all of those who hadn't lost to either one of the Elite Four and places them in a tournament. The winner of the tournament gets to challenge the current Champion. If the challenger loses then the current Champion gets to keep his title until the next season starts. Since every League opens at a different time of the year then they can broadcast everything on the same TV channel, because two or more seasons never take place at the same time. Usually a very small number of challengers make it to the tournament because the Elite Four are really tough."

"I see." said Jake. "How long will it be until the next season at Indigo Plateau starts?"

"About seven months." said Jacob with a smile. "There's plenty of time for me to prepare."

"I just thought about something." said Jake after a short silence.

"What is it?"

"Each region has its own Elite Four and Champion, right?" asked Jake. Jacob nodded. "Does Indigo Plateau host both the Johto League and the Kanto League? Are there two groups of Elite Four and two Champions?"

Jacob shook his head. "No," he said, "Johto and Kanto have the same Elite Four and Champion. A challenger may challenge them by collecting either the 8 Badges from Kanto or the 8 Badges from Johto." There was a short silence. "I'm planning to collect all 16 before the Pokémon League opens."

"Why would you get all 16 when just 8 are enough?" asked Jake, raising an eyebrow. Being the usually lazy person that he was, it wasn't a big surprise to hear that question coming from him.

"Because I want to collect them all." said Jacob. "Also, travelling through both regions _before_ going to the Pokémon League will be a great way for me to improve. I'll get to meet more trainers and to battle Johto's Gym Leaders as well, which will definitely be helpful."

Jake thought about what Jacob had said for a few moments before making his reply. "Oh yeah, I hadn't really thought about it like that. You're right."

"The 8 Gyms of Johto each specializes in a type that isn't represented here in Kanto." said Jacob, "By battling the trainers who are part of those Gyms and the Gym Leaders I'll be more prepared to face those types, whether they are used by the Elite Four or by other challengers who will make it into the tournament."

The two were silent for quite a while. Eventually Jake glanced at the TV for a moment before looking back up at the ceiling. "So is the battle you're watching against a member of the Sinnoh Elite Four or is it part of that tournament you mentioned?"

Jacob shook his head. "A challenger is facing one of the Elite Four." he silently stared at the screen for a moment. "I think she's the second member of the Sinnoh Elite Four if I remember correctly."

"Wow, so the Elite Four spend this one or two weeks just battling challengers one after the other? That sounds tiring."

"It is, but when you think about it they have to face challengers only at a specific time of the year, so they get to rest once the season is over. Actually an Elite Four trains a lot, so you can't call it a rest, but you know what I mean. Being an Elite Four member is definitely a difficult position, especially when it comes to maintaining it." Jacob fell silent for a short moment. "I imagine many trainers want to earn the title as well."

After a while of staring up at the ceiling and being deep in his thoughts Jake decided he might as well watch the battle Jacob was watching. It might teach him a few things. "So what did I miss?"

"The challenger is facing Elite Four Bertha; she's a Ground-type Master."

"Is she?" asked Jake as he watched with interest. Ground was one of the weaknesses that fire-type pokémon have, so watching a trainer like Bertha battle might help him a lot. After about half a minute, however, he lost his interest completely. "This isn't helping me at all."

"What do you mean?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow.

"The challenger's using a water-type. I need to see a fire-type pokemon or another pokémon that has a disadvantage against ground-types if I want to learn anything from this." He got up with a yawn and went to brush his teeth. When he returned he lay back down and went to sleep.

Jacob continued to watch. The challenger had a really hard time but he eventually managed to pull it off and win the match. Jacob knew that most of the challengers who enter the Pokémon League lose to the Elite Four so he was obviously impressed. "That was quite a spectacular match." said the announcer on the TV. "This challenger had quite a hard time against Bertha, so it will be very interesting to see how he will fare against Flint."

"Yes, it will be quite interesting to watch." said another voice, "We'll be taking a short break for commercials while the challenger prepares for his next match. Stay tuned!"

It was then that Jacob remembered that the third member of the Sinnoh Elite Four was Flint. Being the only fire-type trainer who has ever held a position that was higher than the position of a Gym Leader, he was technically considered the best fire-type user there has ever been. On one hand, Jake would probably want to watch Flint in action. On the other hand Jake was already asleep, which meant that the smartest thing to do would be to not wake him up.

When Jake woke up the following day Jacob was already gone. There was a small note on Jacob's bed which he must have written before leaving.

_Hey Jake, I'm heading to Erika's Gym. I'll be back later. Jacob._

Jake let out a yawn and stretched his arms before looking around. The digital clock located on top of the small TV they had in their room indicated that Jake had overslept again. Charmander was still sleeping in what had to be the laziest position, which made Jake chuckle. She was becoming more and more like him with every passing day, and he didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, it was cute.

Vulpix and Eevee were also sound asleep, and Jake was more than surprised to see that the two were cuddled up together. For a moment he thought that Vulpix had come around but a more logical way to explain the scenario was to say that Eevee simply lay down beside her after she had fallen asleep. When Vulpix woke up after a couple of minutes she looked at Eevee's sleeping form, frowned and once again shoved him off the bed.

"Vulpix, you're cute and all…" said Jake as he picked Eevee up and tried to get him to stop whining, "But you're very mean." Noticing that Charmander was awake (probably as a result of Eevee's whining), he put Eevee down on the bed before whispering something in her ear. Charmander looked at him with a confused expression for a few moments before nodding in approval.

She got up and then sat down next to Eevee after making sure that Vulpix was watching. For a while Charmander just sat there silently but eventually she began to steal a glance at him every now and then and to giggle whenever he caught her staring at him. All the while Jake was standing behind Vulpix with obvious interest. At some point the fox-like pokémon frowned, which caused Jake to chuckle. She was obviously jealous.

"Busted, little lady, you're jealous." said he with a smug grin as Vulpix looked around at him in surprise. Obviously she had no idea that he had stood behind her while studying her expression the entire time. Charmander also chuckled before getting up, walking over to Jake and jumping up to her usual seat on his shoulders. Vulpix, having realized that she had been set up, got up and walked into the bathroom while blushing, something which was somehow easy to notice despite her red fur color.

Eevee wanted to follow her, but Jake stopped him. "I think she likes you, but you have to be smart about this." Eevee stopped and looked up at him with his big eyes. He obviously had no idea what in the world Jake wanted from him. "You should be a little less clingy, that's all. I think."

"_Vee?_"

"Oh, I have another idea!" said Jake excitedly. "I bet Vulpix will come around more quickly if she finds you more attractive." Eevee simply stared at him. "Do you think you're ready to evolve?"

_"Vee!_" Eevee seemed quite excited about evolving. Jake remembered how Eevee always watched Charmander or Vulpix battle with interest, which meant that he wanted to evolve into a Flareon not just in order to impress Vulpix but also because he thought that begin able to breathe fire would be really cool.

"Yeah, I wish I could breathe fire…" said Jake, "I'd roast Brad." There was a long and awkward silence after he had said that. "Um, anyways… I wonder how I'm supposed to use this Fire Stone…" He went over and reached for his bag, which was open. As usual, the egg was on top of everything else that was in it. "Let me just get this out of the way and then I'll be able to get one of the stones out."

He was about to place the egg down before he noticed something rather unusual about it. It was a lot lighter than it used to be. "That's odd…" He rotated it in his hands before noticing a rather large hole in its side. He looked into it. The egg was empty. "No way, it finally hatched!" Unable to think of anything else to do, he placed the empty egg down on his bed and called Jacob on the Xtransceiver.

It took a few moments, but eventually Jacob picked up. "Jacob, listen!" Jacob was about to say something, but Jake didn't let him. "Are you busy?!"

"Uh, well, Erika just finished a battle against a challenger, so we're about to start our rematch." said Jacob, raising an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"It's the egg! It hatched!" said Jake, unable to hide his excitement.

"Really?!" asked Jacob, also looking excited. "That's cool! I was starting to wonder how long it was going to take it to hatch!"

"I know! Me too!"

"So what pokémon hatched from it?" asked Jacob, obviously curious.

The excitement then completely faded from Jake's expression. He looked around and then at the empty egg before realizing that he must have been so excited that the egg had finally hatched that he ended up completely ignoring the fact that the hatchling was nowhere to be seen. "Uh… I don't know."

"Well, we are on a video call," said Jacob, "so let me take a look. I bet I'll be able to tell you what pokémon it is."

"I can't do that." said Jake as he continued to look around with a rather guilty expression on his face.

"Why not?"

"Uh, you're breaking up, I can't hear you!" said Jake as he grabbed a piece of paper and began making noise with it.

"I can hear you quite clearly." said Jacob with a raised eyebrow. "I can see you as well."

"But I can't! Bye! Um… Good luck in your battle!" Jake then hung up the call and looked at Charmander and Eevee with a helpless expression. "Let me guess, we were all asleep when the egg hatched, weren't we?"

Charmander and Eevee looked at each other and then back at him, slowly nodding their heads.

"And it probably hatched after Jacob had left."

The two nodded again.

"Great." said Jake with a worried look as he remembered how his bag was already open when he had taken the egg out of it just a minute ago. "That's terrific."

"_Vulpix!_" came Vulpix's voice from the direction of the bathroom.

"What is it, Vulpix?" asked Jake as he, Eevee and Charmander entered the bathroom.

Vulpix was standing next to a towel that lay on the floor while suspiciously smelling it. After a second or two Jake realized that the towel was moving. It wasn't very big (the towel), which meant that whatever it was that was squirming beneath it had to be the baby pokémon that had hatched from the egg. "Oh, that's a relief!" said Jake with a sigh as all the worries about what might have happened to the hatchling faded away.

"_Char!_"

"Oh, right…" he kneeled down in front of the towel, hesitated for a moment, and then grabbed it with the intention of lifting it into the air and revealing the baby pokémon that was under it. "Alright, here goes…" he said as he took in a deep breath before looking at Charmander, Eevee and Vulpix, who were also watching with great interest and anticipation. "Are you three ready?" They nodded and then Jake raised the towel, revealing that the author of this story is incredibly evil.

******** I want you to pay close attention to what Jacob is about to say. The Pokémon League itself isn't going to appear in the story anytime soon, but when it does it won't function like it does in the games or in the anime. It will be a mixture of both. Don't forget this because if you do then you might get confused you in the future.**


	19. Babysitting

"Okay, I have no idea what in the world this is." said Jake as he looked down at the baby pokémon in front of him, having removed the towel that had covered the pokémon and tossed it aside. The pokémon that he, Charmander, Vulpix and Eevee were looking at had a serpentine body. He (the gender was later discovered) possessed white fins on the side of his head, a large, round white nose on his face and a small, white circular feature on his head. The color of his skin was pink while the color of his belly, under-tail and front neck were white like his nose and the fins on the sides of his head.

While mentioning that the pokémon did have a serpentine body might imply that his body was quite long, it is necessary to state that the pokémon's body length was quite small. The pokémon definitely did look small enough to have hatched from the egg which was now lying empty in the other room. The egg itself was about half as tall as Charmander and the length of the recently-hatched pokémon's body appeared to be somewhere between 1.5 meters to 2 meters. ***** So, when curled up, the pokémon had enough room in it.

The pokémon didn't look as small as Jake thought a newly-hatched serpentine pokémon would be. However he did know that a pokémon only gets bigger once it evolves, which meant that it probably hatches when it's as big as a pokémon of the same species that had hatched months earlier. This probably made the whole part of telling between a newborn-pokémon to another quite difficult. ******

The baby pokémon (although he probably looked exactly the same as any other pokémon of his specie) was asleep and curled up on the floor. As much as Jake was excited about the fact that the egg had hatched, he soon found himself staring at the sleeping pokémon with a blank and even upset expression. No, it wasn't because the recently-hatched pokémon didn't look like a fire-type. It was because Jake soon realized that he had no idea how to take care of a pokémon that has only recently come out of its egg.

What he was most fascinated about was the fact that the pokémon hatched from the egg, got out of his bag (seeing how Jake had left it opened and seeing how the egg was in it) and then crawled all the way into the bathroom before falling asleep under a towel without waking up either Jake or his pokémon.

Vulpix took a small, hesitant step towards the sleeping pokémon before Jake stopped her. It was a very unlikely possibility, seeing how small and adorable the hatchling looked, but Jake didn't know whether just approaching the pokémon would be a smart thing to do. Slowly and carefully, he reached towards the pokémon with his arm and gently poked him with a finger, causing the pokémon to let out a yawn before opening its purple eyes (which were adorably large, of course).

"_Charmander, char!_" Jake looked at Charmander, who was doing her best in order to imitate a dragon by waving her claws randomly and letting out a fake roar (which sounded kind of pathetic and, therefore, amusing). Jake simply stared at her with a raised eyebrow, obviously not understanding what in the world she was trying to say to him.

The newborn pokémon simply stared at the other pokémon and the human in front of him before letting out another yawn and beginning to clumsily crawl in their direction. Jake didn't know whether the hatchling was feeling safe because he (Jake) and his pokémon were the first living things he (the recently-hatched pokémon) had ever seen, but he decided to just go ahead and call Professor Oak on the Xtransceiver. Surely _he_ would know how to treat a pokémon that has so recently come out of its egg.

"Hello Jake! How are you?" asked the professor.

"Hey, I hope I'm not interrupting or anything."

"Not at all!" There was the sound of something breaking somewhere in the professor's lab which caused to professor to cringe. "What makes you say that?"

"Um, nothing… Listen, I have a few questions to ask you."

"Sure, go right ahead, that's what I'm here for. How are you and your friend doing?"

"We're fine. The egg hatched, so I wanted to ask you a couple of-"

"Oh, how wonderful!" said the professor, obviously excited. "What pokémon is it?"

"I don't know." said Jake with a sheepish expression. The hatchling had, by that time, already made his way towards Jake and was now using one of Jake's shoes as a pillow. "I was hoping you'd be able to tell me."

"I very seriously doubt that I _won't_ be able to tell you!" said the professor with a laugh.

"That's not funny."

"Let me take a look. Point the camera at it, will you?" Jake went ahead and pointed the camera of his Xtransceiver at the hatchling, which was still sleepily resting his head against Jake's shoe. The professor looked at the pokémon for only a short moment before his eyes widened in surprise. "Well, isn't this shocking!"

"What, is it a rare pokémon?" asked Jake with a blank expression.

"Not only is it quite a rare pokémon!" said Professor Oak. "You said you found the egg at Mt. Moon, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"Hmm… That is very peculiar and unlikely." said the professor with a thoughtful expression. "As far as I'm concerned Mt. Moon is not even close to being anything like the natural habitat of this pokémon."

"Two Team Plasma grunts had it with them." explained Jake, "They must have taken it from someplace else."

"Ah, I see. That explains it."

"So what pokémon is it?" asked Jake, not wanting to sound rude but at the same time wanting to get to the point.

"That's a Dratini." said the professor.

"Are they fire-type pokémon?" asked Jake hopefully.

"No. Dratini is a dragon-type pokémon."

"Oh, I see…" Dragon-types were most likely a lot different from fire-types. However, the word 'dragon' made Jake immediately think of the possibility of Dratini being able to somehow spit fire. Not only that; the dragon-type pokémon seemed very adorable as well, not to mention that he acted like Jake was his mother.

"They're quite rare to come across in the wild. The reason for me being so surprised upon seeing this Dratini is this…" The professor then took out what seemed to be a pokédex similar to Jacob's. After a few moments he turned the screen of the pokédex towards the camera, allowing Jake to take a look at it. There was a picture of a differently colored Dratini on the screen. "You see, a Dratini's color is normally light-blue."

"But mine is pink." said Jake with a slightly worried expression. "Is he sick or something?"

"Not at all!" said the professor with a jolly smile. "This Dratini is shiny."

"Shiny?"

"A shiny pokémon," explained the professor, "also recognized as alternate coloration, is a specific Pokémon with different coloration to what is usual for its species."

"Does that make the pokémon super extra powerful or something?" asked Jake with a raised eyebrow.

"No."

"So what's so exciting about it?"

"You see, shiny pokémon don't have any advantage over other pokémon of their species but they're still a very rare phenomenon. All pokémon species have only a few shiny pokémon, if at all."

"So…" said Jake, bringing a hand to his chin, "This Dratini is a one of a kind?"

"It probably isn't, but you can say that if you want."

"That's neat." He had to admit that Dratini looked a little girly when considering the fact that he should be blue and not pink, but he didn't really care.

"Did you know that many consider Charmander and its evolution line to be dragon pokémon as well?" asked the professor all of a sudden.

"Really?" asked Jake, surprised. "You mean like some pokémon that have two types?"

"No, a Charmander is only a fire-type, but it's part of the dragon egg group. Some people consider this evolution line as dragon pokémon and some don't."

"Could you tell me a little bit about dragon-type pokémon and how I'm supposed to take care of this one?" He might as well get to know the basics about them, including how to take care of a pokémon that has only recently hatched. What he was hoping that would come up the most during the professor's explanation, however, was the whole part of dragons being able to breathe fire like in fairytales.

So it turned out that dragon type pokémon could learn more than just a small amount of fire-type moves. According to the professor, Dratini and its two evolutions are capable of learning quite a variety of moves through TMs. Oak said that it will take quite a lot of work but that Dratini's evolution line should be able to learn certain ice, fire, electric and even rock-type moves. "Wow, dragon-type pokémon sound really cool." said Jake to himself after finishing his call with the professor. The professor did say that it takes a lot of hard work to train them, but in Jake's opinion that only made the whole idea of training one a lot more appealing and interesting. He was still planning to become a fire-type user, but that didn't at all mean that he couldn't keep this Dratini and train him as well, did it?

Dratini was by that time fully awake and refreshed as well as in the process of clumsily crawling after Eevee, who was doing his best to stay away from the little dragon pokémon. Dratini was probably curios about Eevee's fur, which looked quite fluffy, but Eevee didn't seem very eager about cuddling with anything that wasn't Vulpix. "Professor Oak did mention that a Dratini moves around a lot better in water." said Jake after a short while and, even though it was quite amusing to watch Dratini play tag with Eevee, he filled the bathtub with warm water and picked the serpentine pokémon up.

At first Dratini seemed a little disappointed about no longer being able to play with Eevee, but he was once again in high spirits upon being placed in a tub full of water. "Look at how happy he is!" said Jake with a smile to Charmander who was currently standing on her fingertips in order to be tall enough in order to look into the bathtub. Well, maybe I should call them 'clawtips', seeing how a Charmander's legs have claws instead of fingers.

"_Dratini!_" The dragon pokémon then exclaimed his name once before beginning to swim around in the bathtub, looking quite delighted.

"Oh, and he has the cutest little voice as well!" He looked at Charmander with a smile. "Now you have a dragon-buddy!" Charmander stared at him and blinked. "But I better not find an egg all of a sudden." With Jake there was no telling whether he was just teasing or whether he was really serious, but Charmander still felt slightly embarrassed by the comment. "If I do, _you_'ll be the one carrying it. Those things are heavy."

"Jake, are you in here?" came Jacob's voice from the outside of their inn room which was followed by the sound of a key being turned at the main door.

"Yes, I'm in the bathroom." He heard the door open and close, followed by the sound of Jacob taking his backpack off and placing it down somewhere, presumably on his bed. "How did it go?" Jake had no idea whether Jacob immediately hurried back to their room without battling Erika again upon hearing that the egg had hatched or whether Jacob and Erika did have their rematch. Either way, he didn't want it to sound like he didn't care.

"I got the Badge!" said Jacob with enthusiasm. While Jake couldn't see him, seeing how they were both in different parts of their rented 'apartment', he had no doubt that Jacob had a stupid-looking smile on his face. So, in a sense, it was a good thing that they were in separate rooms, because sometimes Jacob's facial expressions just gave Jake the urge to slap him or throw a water balloon at his face. "It was a close call, but I managed to pull it off."

"Congratulations." said Jake with a genuine tone of praise. To Jacob, unlike to himself, this Badge was probably a very important milestone.

"Aww, it sounds like you mean it this time!" said Jacob from the other room with a happy voice. "That's actually touching!" Jake rolled his eyes and said nothing. "Where's the baby pokémon?" asked Jacob after a short silence, finally putting a stop to Jake's wonder about how come he hadn't asked yet. "I'm dying to see what pokémon it is!"

"He's in here."

Jacob went ahead and entered the bathroom, his jaw dropping upon setting his eyes on the newborn pink Dratini who was happily swimming around in the bathtub, accidentally splashing small amounts of water at Jake and his pokémon who were busy looking at him. This made Charmander slightly uncomfortable, despite the fact that Dratini's small body proportion did not allow him to make a splash that might be big enough as to somehow damage the flame at the tip of her tail. Regardless of that, Charmander found herself moving away from the bathtub and sitting down at a distance where not a single drop of water managed to reach her. She wasn't very fond of water, even in the smallest quantities.

"No way!" said Jacob, having never seen either a Dratini or a shiny pokémon in his entire life.

"I know, doesn't this kick ass?" asked Jake with a smile. "I can't wait to show him to Brad, you should have seen the way he got angry when I caught Eevee. This would make him freak for sure." There was a short silence. "Can I borrow your video camera? I need to start taping his reactions."

"I can't believe that a shiny pokémon hatched from this egg." said Jacob after another silence. "Not to mention that it's a Dratini, too. They're very rare in the wild."

"I know, the professor said the exact same thing earlier." The two said nothing for a while, and Jake eventually noticed that his friend had a rather restless look on his face. "Stop twitching. We talked about this."

"Okay, Jake, I'm just going to say it." said Jacob with a sigh. "I think I should be the one to keep Dratini."

Jake simply stared at him for a short moment, blinking a few times before making his answer. "What exactly made you come to that conclusion?"

"Well…" said Jacob, rather desperately, "You said you want to be a fire-type trainer, and Dratini is a dragon-type pokémon."

"So?"

"I could use a dragon-type on my team at some point."

"But I found the egg." said Jake bluntly. It was kind of mean of him, but he couldn't help but find Jacob's behavior amusing.

"It's not fair how you keep finding rare pokémon all the time." said Jacob with a frown and a tone that resembled those of a child. Even the oldest of us act immaturely from time to time. "First you found Charmander, then Eevee and then an egg with a shiny dragon-type in it!"

"Didn't we have this conversation already?" asked Jake, getting a feeling of déjà vu.

"Please?"

"No."

"Oh, why not?"

"Because dragon-type pokémon sound really cool. Professor Oak confirmed my belief that they can learn how to breathe fire."

Jacob sighed, defeated. "I hate you."

"You'll get over it."

"Next time we see a fire-type pokémon I'm catching it."

Jake knew he was going to regret agreeing to this, but he wasn't in the mood of hearing Jacob complaining all day. "Alright." Obviously Jacob was waiting for the moment where he would proudly hold a pokéball containing a fire-type pokémon in order to try to make Jake angry.

Later that evening the two trainers were watching TV again. Jake was lying in his bed while looking at the TV with a sleepy expression and Jacob was more busy looking at a town map of Kanto. Dratini was sleeping on Jake's stomach (much to the annoyance of Charmander, who had recently grown quite fond of sleeping there herself).

Being a baby pokémon, Dratini proved to be very energetic. Earlier that day he always wanted to play with all the other pokémon (with the exception of Jacob's Bronzor and Pidgeotto. The first simply stared at him without making any sort of communication and the second made Dratini feel as if he was about to get eaten). Eevee continued to look quite uncomfortable around Dratini, which means that he didn't prove to be a very good choice for a playmate either. Dratini had more success with Vulpix and Bulbasaur. Now, however, the little pokémon was sound asleep, completely drained of energy.

"I think the next Gym we should go to is the Gym at Saffron City." said Jacob after having stared at the map for a while. Just like Jake had anticipated his friend was no longer upset about Dratini, which wasn't that big of a surprise.

"Sounds like a good idea." said Jake with a yawn. "After all Saffron is the closest city we can go to."

"I also heard that the Gym is a psychic-type Gym. I've never battled a psychic-type before and I also bet that the trainers there can give me a few tips regarding my Bronzor."

Jake then realized that he hadn't had the chance to face a psychic-type pokémon in battle either. While doing that wasn't in his list of top priorities, seeing how fire-types didn't have a type disadvantage against psychic-types, he still felt like dealing with psychic-type pokémon was something he should also work on. After all he had seen Jacob's Bronzor battle a few times, so he already had a basic idea as to how tricky and even difficult it could be to defeat a psychic-type pokémon, especially a well-trained one. "Alright, count me in. I'll go with you."

"From there," continued Jacob, "we can choose 2 paths. We can either go to Vermilion City afterwards, which is the town Melanie headed off to, then-"

"Have you heard from her?" asked Jake all of a sudden.

"No." said Jacob as he shook his head, "But I bet she's waiting for a chance to jump out of nowhere and yell 'surprise'."

"That sounds very likely." said Jake with a chuckle after thinking about it for a short moment.

"From there we can go to Fuchsia City, then Cinnabar Island, then to Viridian City through Pallet Town, then to Pewter City and, finally, back to Cerulean."

"And what's the second choice?" asked Jake, curious.

"The same thing only that we go the other way around." said Jacob. "We start with Cerulean City and end with Vermilion City."

"I'm guessing that now we'll be staying in every city until you earn that city's Gym Badge, am I right?"

"Well…" said Jacob as he rubbed the back of his head, "Maybe. I might make an exception with Saffron City. After you went to sleep yesterday I saw a challenger face the psychic-type Master of the Sinnoh Elite Four on TV. I really don't think I'm ready to face a psychic-type expert yet."

"I'll go with whatever you decide." said Jake with another yawn. "After all you're the one collecting Gym Badges. I just tag along."

Jacob thought about it for a moment. "I think I'd like to go to Cerulean City and Pewter City first."

"Okay, then it's settled." said Jake without sounding like he had a problem with Jacob's decision. Going to Cerulean City and Pewter City would give him a chance to train at both the Cerulean City Gym (again) and the Pewter City Gym, which were a water-type and a rock-type Gym respectively. So, obviously, going there would help him improve.

"So what's on TV?" asked Jacob after a short silence, sitting down on his own bed where his three pokémon were peacefully resting.

"Some battle analyzers or whatever they're supposed to be are discussing the Sinnoh League." said Jake with a yawn, apparently not too interested. "Turns out that that challenger you and I watched yesterday was the last one, so the phase with the Elite Four is over."

"I see." said Jacob, sounding a lot more interested than his friend was. "Did they say anything interesting earlier?"

"Oh, I'm not paying attention." said Jake, much to his friend's confusion. "You see, I find this extremely boring, so I'm using it to fall asleep faster."

Jacob couldn't help but chuckle. "It doesn't seem like your little plan is working."

"That's because we're talking."

"Oh… Sorry." Jacob fell silent and focused on the screen. The camera was currently focusing on one of the men in the studio, which meant that nothing else but him was visible.

"The Elite Four member who is with us in the studio this year is Bertha, and as is the custom during the Pokémon League Season we will be asking a couple of questions regarding a few specific challengers and more." The camera zoomed out, revealing Bertha who was sitting in a chair next to the reporter.

Upon seeing her on the screen Jake suddenly sat bolt upright, causing Dratini to fall off and land straight on Charmander. She gave a slight growl of annoyance which caused the baby pokémon to crawl away hurriedly. Jacob noticed that his friend was suddenly awake in the corner of his eye but he didn't say a word, thinking that Jake was simply curious about the interview.

That, however, was not the case. Jake simply sat there and looked at the screen with wide eyes for a few moments, unable to believe what he was seeing. He couldn't believe that he was seeing _her_. Yesterday, when she battled that challenger on TV, he didn't see her because the camera was focused on the two pokémon in the middle of the battlefield rather than their trainers, and he never imagined that it was _her_ because there were probably thousands of women named Bertha all around the world. "I can't believe this…" he muttered quietly.

"Did you say something?" asked Jacob, looking at him.

Jake continued to look at the screen for a few more moments before a frown appeared on his face. "I'm going for a walk." He got up, put his shoes on and left the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

******* According to Bulbapedia.**

******** Somehow in the game you can use a newly-hatched pokémon as soon as it hatches, so I might as well do the same thing here.**


	20. The Interview

"Jake? Where are you going?" asked Jacob with a raised eyebrow as the door was slammed shut with a loud thud. He was quite used to having Jake drop everything just for the sake of going for a walk, but that usually happened whenever his friend was seriously upset about something. People normally didn't become distressed unless they had a good reason to. As far as Jacob was concerned, nothing unnerving or devastating has happened to them lately. So, naturally, Jacob found it quite peculiar how Jake had simply gotten up and left after having decided to go to sleep. If there was one thing which Jacob had never seen his friend change his mind about, it was getting some sleep. "Maybe the TV was giving him a headache…" mumbled Jacob quietly to himself as he let out a yawn before turning his attention back to the TV.

Charmander and Vulpix, having not paid any attention to the TV in the past few minutes, unlike Jacob, easily noticed the sudden change that had taken place in their trainer's countenance right before he got up and left. The same was true about Jacob's Bulbasaur, who was lying wide awake next to his trainer while also staring at the door Jake had gone through. Eevee and Dratini were an exception; the first was snoring peacefully like a baby and the latter, being an actual baby, was acting like one by nibbling on his own tail while making noises of delight and satisfaction.

"_Charmander, char!_" exclaimed the little dinosaur-like pokémon as she hopped off the bed and walked over to the door.

"Jake does this all the time, Charmander." said Jacob with yet another yawn. "Usually when he goes for a walk it takes him about an hour to come back."

Charmander ignored Jacob and pressed the side of her head against the door, listening out while hoping that her trainer had heard her and that he would come back. When he didn't she walked back towards the bed and used it in order to get to the ledge of the window and stand on it. She looked out into the street, along with Vulpix who soon joined her, and after a few moments they saw their trainer leave the inn and walk out into the street. They called out to him but he didn't turn back. He was probably out of earshot. Or maybe he was just acting like he couldn't hear them.

The two fire-types gave up after a few more fruitless attempts and got off the ledge of the window. All the while Jacob continued watching Bertha's interview with obvious interest. At first the reporter only asked her typical questions about the Sinnoh League. "Well I do believe that that's all we'd like to ask you about the Sinnoh League and about your expectations about the upcoming tournament which will determine who will earn the right to battle the current Champion." said the reporter at some point. "However we're not saying goodnight to you just yet." He paused for a moment. "Have you already figured out why we insisted on interviewing you rather than any of the other Elite Four members?"

Bertha chuckled. "Ahaha, I believe I do." said the elderly woman. "I'm used to it already."

"Out of the Sinnoh Elite Four you're the only one on whose private life we know the least about." said the reporter. Bertha didn't seem surprised at this, having properly anticipated what he was about to say. "We're definitely not asking you for a detailed autobiography here, but I'm sure that some of the trainers out there who look up to you would be happy if you told us just a little bit about yourself."

Bertha smiled a faint smile and let out a sigh. "I refrain from talking about my personal life because it is a subject which is quite painful for me to discuss." said she after a short silence. "This is known only to the other Elite Four, Cynthia and other people who I consider to be my very close friends."

"If you don't want to tell us anything we'll understand." said the reporter. "The public is quite used to that." he added, as a jest. Bertha didn't seem too amused.

"No, it's okay." She took in a deep breath and continued. "I know that a family is something which is quite difficult to conceal from the public when you're a Gym Leader, a member of the Elite Four or a Frontier Brain. So I'm going to confirm your suspicion and say that I don't have a family. I never got married and had children of my own."

"I see." said the reporter, who looked quite surprised at the fact that Bertha was cooperating. "And is that why you find your personal life to be a subject that you'd rather not talk about to the public?"

"Oh, no…" said Bertha as she shook her head, "That's not the reason." She paused for another long while before carrying on. "Another thing you don't know about me is that I'm originally not from Sinnoh. I was born in Kanto and, in fact, I once did have a family."

"You _did_ have a family?" asked the reporter, looking confused. "Would you be so kind as to elaborate on that?"

Bertha nodded. "While _I_ never got married I used to have an older sister who passed away many years ago. She did get married and had one daughter. I still remember her as clearly as my own reflection; she was a kind woman who was beautiful not only on the outside but also on the inside." She smiled another faint smile. "She reminded me of her mother in so many ways… She had two wonderful children; a boy and a girl… They were both the sweetest kids, so smart and talented…"

"You see," she said, after another pause, "I first came to a little more than seven years ago because I wanted to travel the world a little. Make no mistake! I had a very close relationship with my niece and her family. We all used to live in Pewter City. Even though our houses were each at a different side of the city, we saw each other every day."

Again she paused but the reporter said nothing, probably in fear of upsetting her and getting her to stop talking. "It was a few days after I had arrived in Sinnoh seven years ago. I phoned them one day to ask how they were doing but nobody picked up. I had been used to having my niece's daughter pick up the phone and excitedly ask me how I was doing but I decided to just call again later. And I did. I called them again and again, but they never picked up."

"The following day I was watching the news and I figured out what had happened. It was said that a man, a woman, a boy and a girl were killed during a Team Rocket raid at a department store in Pewter City." Jacob blinked a few times. He couldn't put a finger on it, but something about what Bertha was saying sounded quite familiar. "At first I kept telling myself that there was no proof that my family had been involved in that horrible tragedy, but soon afterwards the news reporter mentioned my niece's name and said, according to the assumption of the police, that the deceased man was most likely her husband and that the boy and the girl were her children. Only _her_ name was mentioned, though."

"I knew that my niece and her family went everywhere together, so I could no longer continue to deny the facts." Bertha stopped talking and, after a very long silence, took out a handkerchief and wiped a few tears away.

There was noise in the studio, followed by somebody in the background saying "Ma'am, you can't just walk onto a TV set in the middle of a-"

This was followed by the sound of somebody getting shoved and nearly falling over. "Be quiet." said a feminine voice, which most likely belonged to the one who was making her way towards the set without permission.

The camera, which was focusing on Bertha the reporter, zoomed out a little and Jacob saw Cynthia standing next to Bertha's chair. "What are you doing here?" asked Bertha, looking up at the former Sinnoh League Champion.

"I'm taking you home." said the latter, having obviously noticed that Bertha was no longer capable of talking to the camera. "The fact that you've managed to start talking doesn't mean that you have to finish." She held out her hand towards Bertha, who took it after staring at it for a moment. Cynthia then helped Bertha to her feet and supported her as they both left the studio.

Jacob turned off the TV. He stared at the dark screen for a long time before looking at Charmander and Vulpix, who were also looking at it with surprised looks on their faces. Were the two fire-types thinking the same thing or was he beginning to experience the side effects of staying up late in order to watch TV? "No way." he said as he got up and walked over to the window, looking out into the street. Jake was nowhere to be seen, but then again it has been only a few minutes since he had left.

The next day arrived. Jake and Jacob left Celadon City immediately after they had both woken up and began making their way towards Saffron City through route 7. The two walked in complete silence as did their pokémon, who were following closely behind with the exception of Dratini, who was sitting (or lying, to be precise) on his trainer's shoulders. The newborn dragon-type was also an exception when regarding the fact that he made squeals of excitement and curiosity whenever something that seemed interesting caught his attention. This would have annoyed Charmander a great deal, in addition to the fact that he was sitting on Jake's shoulders instead of her, but her mind was too occupied with the events of the previous evening.

Every now and then Jake decided to go ahead and explain to Dratini what the thing that had caught his attention was. Other than that, he was as quiet as usual and had that typical blank expression on his face. Jacob knew how good his friend was at making it look like there was absolutely nothing on his mind. Hadn't he noticed the way Jake had stormed out of the room yesterday in addition to watching the rest of Bertha's interview afterwards, there would have been absolutely no way for him to realize that something was wrong. Eevee, despite having not witnessed anything due to the fact that he had fallen asleep, was also very quiet. He was either able to sense that something was up despite his trainer's well-put-on display or maybe he wasn't cheerful for reasons of his own.

"What are you so upset about?" asked Jake with a suspicious look and squinted eyebrows as he noticed Jacob's thoughtful expression.

"Oh! It's…" Jacob knew that he couldn't let Jake realize that he had even the slightest suspicion. While Jake hadn't seen Bertha's interview, and didn't know that Bertha had said what she had said, Jacob knew that he couldn't take any risks. "I'm just nervous about meeting the Gym Leader of Saffron City." This seemed like a very good excuse considering how nervous Jacob had been before challenging Erika for the first time.

"…" Jake stared at his friend for a long moment without saying anything. Luckily, Jacob managed to keep a straight face. "I've noticed that all of you are unusually quiet." he said eventually, looking at Charmander and the other pokémon. He was used to not talking to Jacob when they were simply walking down the road, but he found their pokémon's silence to be very odd. "I'm surprised you haven't complained about the fact that Dratini's on my shoulders, seeing how you're so fond of sitting there." Jake had already noticed the fact that Charmander hadn't taken that much of a liking to the serpentine dragon, which made the whole thing even more peculiar.

"_Char._"

"What did she say?" asked Jacob, thinking that this might be a great opportunity for him to change the subject.

"I have no idea." said Jake with a shrug.

When Jake said nothing else, Jacob decided to stop talking as well so to not accidentally make Jake grow suspicious again. It was quite hard for him to keep his mouth shut because he had so many questions he wanted to find answers for. Were Jake and Bertha really related? If they were then how come Jake had lived entirely on his own ever since his parents were killed? Also, why didn't Jake tell him that he had a living relative? Those questions made the whole possibility of Bertha and Jake being related sound very unlikely, although Jacob couldn't think of another way to explain why Jake had left the room upon seeing Bertha on TV.

Also, Bertha's story sounded very familiar to Jake's. The deceased on both sides have been dead for seven years after being killed during a Team Rocket raid in Pewter City. What were the odds of that being simply a mere coincidence?

"Is it just me or is Saffron City even bigger than Celadon City?" asked Jake with a raised eyebrow as he and Jacob walked past the city's western gate and entered the city. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if it took us that long to find the Gym in Celadon City then this time it's going to take us even longer."

"No, it won't!" said Jacob with a smug grin before taking out a folded map of Saffron out of his pocket. "I've come more than prepared for this!"

"Oh, I see… Well, this sucks. I quite enjoyed your despair last time."

As much as Jacob wanted to figure out whether Jake and Bertha had anything to do with each other or not, he also wanted to check out the Saffron Gym. Besides, he knew that trying to get information about this whole thing from Jake would be impossible. So if he wanted to find out the truth he was going to have to find a way to contact Bertha, and the closest person to him that might know how to contact a member of the Sinnoh Elite Four would be the Saffron Gym Leader.

"Hey, listen," said Jake after a while as he and Jacob kept looking for the Gym, "I've decided not to go to the Gym with you. I think I'll just take a look around the city."

"Really? Why not?" asked Jacob with a raised eyebrow. Yesterday Jake seemed quite excited about going to the Saffron Gym. However, Jake not being there would allow Jacob to ask the Gym Leader whether she knew Bertha personally or not.

"I'll join you later. You'll probably still be there because you said you wanted to train there a little."

"Knock yourself out." said Jacob, now even more eager to get to the Saffron Gym.

The two parted and Jake began to look for a pokémart so that he could buy some pokémon food for his pokémon. On the way there Dratini fell asleep on his shoulders, so Jake decided to just go ahead and let the baby pokémon sleep inside a pokéball where he would most likely feel more comfortable. When he reached the pokémart he was more than surprised to see Melanie there. She was busy looking at some products with her Charmander, who was standing right next to her.

For a moment Jake felt like startling her, something she would have most likely done if she were in his place, but he decided against it. Instead, he simply walked up to her and got her attention by clearing his throat.

She turned around and smiled. There was something about her smile that made it look like she was quite relieved. "Oh, Jake, hi!" said she with a wave of her hand.

"Hey. It's been a while since I last saw you." He raised an eyebrow. "You look as if a great load has been lifted off your shoulders."

"Oh, I saw Brad in the street a few minutes ago." said Melanie, causing Jake to wince. "So, naturally, I ran in here to seek cover." Jake chuckled. "When you cleared your throat I thought it was him so I panicked. I'm really not in the mood to see him right now."

"I'm never in the mood to see him." said Jake as Melanie set her eyes on Eevee.

"Hey Eevee! You're still as cute as ever!" Before the little pokémon could run away she picked him up and gave him a tight hug, much to his dismay. "And you're even fluffier than you were last time!" She looked at Jake again, "Where's Jacob? He owes me a rematch!"

Jake thought about it for a moment before remembering that Jacob had promised to have another battle with Melanie upon seeing her again. "Oh, so how did it go in Vermilion?"

"My Onix tried really hard for me!" said Melanie, taking out a sun-shaped Badge from her bag. "Look at my Thunder Badge! It's all shiny and stuff!"

"Congratulations." said Jake with a smile. "Jacob has the Rainbow Badge now."

"That's cool! You know, I'm quite happy to see you here. I heard about what Team Plasma did in Celadon City so I got a little worried."

"You could have called, you know."

"I forgot…"

"…Anyways, Jacob went to the Saffron Gym. I'll be joining him sometime later."

"He's going to battle Sabrina?!" asked Melanie, her mouth wide open. "He's crazy. She's really strong! She also claims to have actual psychic powers and I don't think she's lying… She's really creepy!"

"Well, he's at the Gym if you want to find him."

"If Jacob thinks he can escape my wrath, he's wrong!" exclaimed Melanie as she handed Eevee back to Jake. "Bye bye!" She ran outside at full speed, only to come back after a few seconds. "Charmander, come on!" Her Charmander was still there and in the middle of a conversation with Jake's Charmander. All they were saying to each other was their name or parts of it but they seemed to understand one another. "Come on Romeo, you can flirt with Jake's Charmander later!" She grabbed him and the two disappeared.

"I don't think she has ever read Romeo and Juliet…"

_Meanwhile, at the Saffron Gym_

"This maze is driving me crazy." said Jacob with a sigh as he was teleported into yet another room which Sabrina wasn't in. Eventually, though, Jacob managed to find her. He was able to tell that he had arrived at the right room because it had a completely different design in comparison to all the other rooms.

Sabrina's eyes were closed, as if she was meditating or something. The moment Jacob opened his mouth in order to say something, though, her eyes opened. It was probably just Jacob's imagination, but he felt like she could see straight through him. "I've been expecting you." she said eventually.

"Uh… What?" That had to be the weirdest thing anybody has ever said to him in his entire life.

"I had a vision of your arrival." said Sabrina. "You and your friends are the ones who helped Misty back at the daycare in Cerulean City."

"How did you know that?" asked Jacob with a raised eyebrow. It was possible that Misty had told Sabrina about them, but that didn't explain how Sabrina was able to recognize him without knowing his name and without having ever seen him before.

"You're not here as a challenger. Yet. You're after something else."

"Okay, this is really awkward, but whatever… Yes. I was hoping that you might be able to help me with something."

"People often think that they're doing the right thing, but most of them soon find out that they are wrong." said the psychic-type Gym Leader. Jacob thought that this was just something she said to everybody, and he had no idea that she was actually telling him to re-consider what he was planning to do. "I can help you out."

"Great, I need to somehow contact Bertha of the Sinnoh Elite Four." said Jacob.

"Give me your Xtransceiver." Jacob did as he was told, and she handed the phone-watch back to him after a few seconds. "I don't know Bertha personally but I like to chat with Lucian from time to time. He's also a member of the Sinnoh Elite Four. I've registered his number in your Xtransceiver. He's a very busy person, especially now during the Sinnoh League season, but if you tell him that I'm the one who gave you his number he just might agree to listen to what you have to say."


	21. Fluffy Went to Live on a Farm

"Excuse me, sir?" Jake raised his eyes from the table, having stared at it until he was spoken to. In front of him was standing a boy who seemed to be as old as he was. From the looks of it, he was probably a waiter at the restaurant. "You've been sitting here for the past thirty minutes."

Jake looked around and noticed that the restaurant was almost completely empty, something which made a lot of sense since it was only 12 PM. He then looked back at the waiter in front of him with a blank expression. "It doesn't look like you need this table." On his shoulders Dratini was in the middle of a giggling fit (for a reason which was known to absolutely no one) while the rest of Jake's pokémon were quietly resting next to the chair he was sitting on.

"I know." said the waiter. "I was wondering whether you'd like a glass of water. We don't charge money for water here."

Jake, having expected one of those 'please do not sit here unless you order something' conversations, looked slightly surprised at the waiter's offer. "Oh. Sure, I'd love a glass of water. Thanks." The waiter was about to leave when Jake suddenly thought of something else. "Oh, could I also get a few empty plates?" The waiter nodded and left, returning after a few moments with some empty plates and a glass of water.

Jake thanked him and began filling the empty plates with pokémon food. He placed two of them down next to his chairs for Charmander, Eevee and Vulpix and another one on the table for Dratini. The pink serpentine dragon immediately began eating, letting out a squeak of delight every now and then after swallowing a mouthful of pokémon food. For a pokémon that was only one day old he certainly had a large appetite. "You know you don't have to call me 'sir', right?" asked Jake after a while as he noticed that the waiter was still there, probably because he was busy looking at the shiny Dratini. Not that Jake had a problem with that. "I look just as old as you do."

"I know, but I have to." said the latter after having looked around the restaurant in order to make sure that there wasn't any costumer that needed him. "I'm kind of forced to."

Jake couldn't help but chuckle. "That sure brings back some memories. I used to work in a restaurant."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. It's all fine until you find yourself standing in front of somebody who just deserves to have his face shoved into his own food plate."

The waiter laughed. "That is so true. You know what the worst thing in a restaurant is?"

"Noisy kids, of course. Luckily I worked in the kitchen most of the time."

"Too bad I'm a horrible cook…" said the waiter with a sigh.

"Listen, can I ask you a completely hypothetical question?" This was probably going to confuse the waiter a little, but Jake wanted to hear somebody's opinion.

"Um, sure… I guess…"

Jake stared down at the table as he considered how to word what he wanted to ask. "You know how when a pet or a relative passes away the parents tell their kid that he / she / it went to live on a farm because they think the kid's too young?"

"Well… Yeah?"

"Let's say for a moment that the parents say absolutely nothing and that the kid eventually realizes that Fluffy is dead on his own."

"Fluffy?" asked the waiter with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know." said Jake with a sigh, "It's just some random name for a dog."

"Oh."

"So, after a few years, the kid finds out that Fluffy is actually alive." Jake paused for a moment before looking at the waiter. "Should he be happy?"

The teenager Jake was talking with thought about it for a moment. "Well, I don't see a reason for him to be unhappy." he said after a short silence. "I think I would have been very happy in a situation like that." He looked at Jake, becoming confused at the look he was giving him. "Wouldn't you?"

Jake looked down at the table again and let out another sigh. "Does this restaurant serve French fries?" he asked after a rather long and awkward silence.

"Yes."

"I'll take the largest portion, then." said Jake, looking at the waiter with a smile. "Make sure they're extra salty, please."

_Elsewhere_

Jacob walked through the street and eventually decided to sit down on a bench. He looked at the screen of his Xtransceiver, where the number Sabrina had given him earlier was displayed. All he had to do was press the dial button. Just as he was about to do that, his Xtransceiver began ringing. The number seemed familiar, but he could tell right away that it wasn't Jake's number. For a moment he panicked at the possibility of it being Brad, but he soon remembered that Brad didn't even have his phone number to begin with. Now even more curious to see who it was, Jacob went ahead and answered the call. It was Melanie, and she seemed a little ticked off for some reason.

"Um, hey, Melanie…" said Jacob, a little nervously because of the glare she was giving him, "What's up?"

"Where in the world are you?!" asked Melanie, sounding even more annoyed than she looked.

"I'm fine too, thank you for asking."

"…"

"I'm in Saffron City."

"You were supposed to be at the Saffron Gym! I went there looking for you!"

Jacob blinked a few times. "What are you talking about?"

"You owe me a battle so don't act all innocent!"

"Oh, that! Gee, there's no need to get angry."

"You made a promise so you better keep it." said Melanie as she continued to frown.

"It's not that I wasn't going to keep my promise, I just…"

"Just what?" asked Melanie, looking at him with a questioning look that sent a shiver down his spine.

"I forgot about it."

"That's just as bad!"

"How did you even know to look for me at the Saffron Gym?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow. Now that he was thinking about it he was quite lucky to have left Sabrina's Gym before Melanie got there because she looked like she wanted to strangle him to death.

"I saw Jake at a pokémart." said Melanie. "He told me you went to check out the Gym."

"Why didn't you battle _him_, then, if you're so eager to battle someone?"

"Because he's not my rival, _you're_ my rival!" said Melanie as she rolled her eyes. "And I'm not letting this go until you keep up your promise!"

"But he has the Rainbow Badge too, you know." It's not that Jacob didn't want to battle Melanie again. It was the other way around; he still had a score to settle with her because of their first battle in Pallet Town. However, he was actually more eager to find out whether his suspicions regarding last night's events were true or not.

"Does he?" asked Melanie, looking a little surprised.

_Come on, fall for it!_ thought Jacob silently to himself before talking to Melanie again. "Yes. You should have been there. It was quite a battle."

"…" She seemed to seriously think about what he had said for a moment but after a short silence she frowned at him again. "Get yourself over to the Fighting Dojo, NOW!"

Jacob sighed and facepalmed as Melanie ended the call. He frowned and looked down at Bulbasaur as the grass-type chuckled, obviously amused. "That's really mature of you, Bulbasaur." The pokémon didn't seem to have heard him. "How would you like it if I got Jake's Charmander or Vulpix to yell at you?" Bulbasaur fell silent, causing Jacob to grin. "Not only are they females, they're fire-types as well. They might set you on fire if you annoy them too much." He then took out his map of Saffron City out of his bag and began looking for the Fighting Dojo. It appeared that trying to contact Bertha was going to have to wait. Jacob facepalmed as he realized that the Fighting Dojo was located right next to Sabrina's Gym. This would have been a good thing but, seeing how he had already left the Gym as well as walked a good distance away from it, it wasn't.

_At the Fighting Dojo_

Jacob had always expected a fighting dojo to be, well, full of fighting-type trainers and fighting-type pokémon. However the Saffron City's Fighting Dojo turned out to be completely empty, with the exception of a single man wearing a fighting robe that was standing at the back. This was quite a disappointment because Jacob was still in the process of building his team of six, and he would have loved to be able to observe some fighting-type pokémon in action in order to have better judgment when considering the possibility of obtaining one for his party.

Aside from that one trainer who was standing at the back of the Fighting Dojo Melanie was also there. She saw Jacob enter and walked over, causing him to gulp as he expected her to lash out at him again. For a moment she simply stood there in front of him without saying a single word, which made the entire situation even more awkward. Then, to his relief, she smiled her usual enthusiastic smile. "Hi!" If it weren't for that phone call a few minutes ago there would have been absolutely no way for Jacob to know that she had been angry before.

"Um, hey…" He would have asked her how come she wasn't upset anymore but that might have reminded her of just how angry she had been with him just a few minutes ago. He really, _really_, didn't want that to happen. "So, how have you been?"

"Great!" said Melanie with as she giggled and hopped in her place a few times, "Oh, oh! Oooooooh! Look at my Badge!" She took out the Thunder Badge from her bag and waved it in front of him with a huge smile on her face. "Look at it! Isn't this super cool?!"

Jacob kept his eyes on Melanie's Thunder Badge for a few seconds but eventually it started giving him a headache, seeing how she kept waving it in random directions. "That's great." He smiled. "Wanna see my Badge?"

"Nah, I already asked Jake to show me his. And they probably look exactly the same."

_Damn him._

"Oooh, and guess what else!" continued the enthusiastic brunette "My Caterpie evolved into a Metapod!"

"That's great." said Jacob with a smile. "I heard that many bug-types evolve very quickly."

"He's not as cuddly as he used to be, but I'm still super-duper excited!" She fell silent for a moment. "Well, I hate being rude, but I hope you're ready to lose!"

"Actually, would you mind if we had our rematch later?"

Melanie frowned. "This again?" Jacob nodded, causing her to sigh. "You're acting strange. Usually you're much more excited about battling someone. Is something wrong? "

Jacob sighed. It seemed like the only way to convince her to postpone their battle was to tell her what was going on. "Fine, I'll tell you. But have you promise to not say a word about it."

"You can count on me!" said Melanie with a cheerful smile. She didn't look or acted like it but she was actually very good at keeping secrets.

_A few minutes later_

"So…" said Jacob, "What do you think?"

"What do I think?" asked Melanie with raised eyebrows and wide-opened eyes. "What do I think?!"

"Um…"

"Make the call already!"

"You don't have to yell at me all the time." said Jacob with a frown.

"You're right, I'm sorry."

"Really?" asked Jacob, looking surprised.

"No!" said Melanie as she facepalmed. "Look, are you going to call him or do you want me to do it?"

"No, I'll do it." said Jacob as he rolled his eyes. "I can't count on you to act serious enough."

"Hey, that's-" she paused for a moment. "Yeah, that's true. You should do the talking."

Jacob then opened his Xtransceiver and began looking for the number Sabrina had registered in it earlier that day. The only other numbers he had other than Lucian's belonged to his father, Melanie, Jake and Erika, so it didn't take him very long to find it. "Okay, it's ringing." said he after having clicked the dial button.

"Oooh, this is so exciting!" said Melanie, jumping with excitement. "We're going to talk to a member of the Sinnoh Elite Four!"

"See, this is just what I was talking about a second ago." said Jacob as he rolled her eyes, looking at her. "Look, just… Don't say anything if he answers the call."

Melanie frowned at him, and was about to say something when a man's voice came from the direction of Jacob's Xtransceiver. _"Hello?"_ The two trainers diverted their attention to the screen where they saw a pale-skinned man with long light-blue hair and a pair of light-blue sunglasses.

"Hello, um, Lucian?" asked Jacob after a short moment of silence. Despite having seen Lucian on television before he still wanted to make sure that he was actually talking to him.

_"Yes, who are you?"_

Jacob was about to say something when Melanie suddenly interrupted. "I'm a huge fan!"

Jacob frowned at her, "Be quiet!"

_"Ugh, not this again…" _said Lucian, sighing,_ "Where do these kids get my number from all the time?"_

"I'm sorry about my friend's behavior, sir," said Jacob, shooting another frown in Melanie's direction, "I'm also sorry to interrupt, I know you must be very busy, especially at this time of the year."

_"Well the tournament phase of the Sinnoh League is starting in a few days and I just happen to be in the middle of a very good book."_ said Lucian with another sigh. _"Shauntal wrote it. Have you heard of her?"_

"Yes, of course."

_"What can I do to help you two?"_

"Actually, there's something very important we'd like to ask Bertha and we thought you might be able to help us contact her."

Lucian looked at them for a moment and then frowned. _"Is this about the interview she gave yesterday?"_

"Well, sort of…"

_"Listen kid, Bertha's in no condition to talk about that again and she definitely doesn't need noisy kids shoving their noses where they don't belong. Ever since yesterday the media's been giving her enough of a headache as it is."_

"Could you just listen to me for a-"

_"I'm hanging up; don't call this number again."_

"Wait!"

_"…"_

"Listen, Sabrina gave me this number." Jacob remembered how Sabrina had said that he might end up having to mention the fact that she was the one who had given him Lucian's number. She had obviously known what she was talking about.

_"…"_ Lucian didn't seem to believe him for a moment. _"She gave you my number even though she knew what you were going to do?"_ Jacob nodded. _"I trust Sabrina's sense of judgment."_ There was a very long silence. _"Fine. I'll give Bertha the number of the device you're currently using."_

"Thank you so much! I think she'll really want to hear what I have to say." said Jacob.

_"I'm not guaranteeing that she'll call you. If it were me, I probably wouldn't."_ said Lucian. _"You better not upset her."_

"I won't, I promise." said Jacob with a confident expression on his face. What he had to say to Bertha would obviously make her very happy.

_"You better not. I'll be seeing her in the evening so I'll talk to her then."_

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

_"Yeah, yeah… Take care."_ Lucian then hung up the call.

Jacob was about to say something when he heard Jake's voice from behind him and Melanie. "Hey guys, I finally found you!" The two nearly jumped around upon hearing his voice, obviously startled. Dratini was on his shoulders, which meant that Melanie was now seeing the shiny dragon-type for the first time.

"Oh! What a cutie!" she exclaimed, running over and taking the little serpentine dragon from Jake's shoulders and giving him a hug. Unlike Eevee, however, Dratini seemed to like the attention she was giving him. This made Eevee happy as he thought about the possibility of Melanie leaving him alone for good, but his relief was short-lived. "Don't worry Eevee, I haven't forgotten about you!" She picked him up as well, causing Eevee to frown and let out a sigh as Dratini took advantage of the opportunity to nibble on one of his ears.

"Hey, Jake…" said Jacob, nervously. Did Jake hear his phone talk with Lucian? "Um… When did you get here?"

"Just now." said Jake. "Who were you talking to on the phone?"

"Why? What did you hear?" asked Jacob, looking nervous once again.

"You saying 'thanks' and some other guy saying 'take care'."

"That was… my dad…" said Jacob, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh." said Jake, picking Charmander up in his arms as the little dinosaur-like pokémon tugged on his jeans. "Does he have a sore throat?"

"What?"

"His voice sounded a little hoarse."

"Oh! Uh, yeah, he has a sore throat…"

"That's a shame." said Jake, chuckling as he watched Eevee trying to break free from Melanie's grasp with Dratini chewing on his ear. "Next time you talk to him tell him that I hope he gets better soon."

"Sure, I'll tell him that."

"So what's the plan now?" asked Jake after a short silence. He did remember Jacob saying that the next Gyms he would like to challenge were Misty's and Brock's, and Jake wanted to find out whether Jacob would also like to try challenging Sabrina before they continued. If he did then Jake would have a chance to actually go to the psychic-type Gym in order to check it out and if not then he would be able to train some more at Misty's Gym. Either way, Jake didn't really mind.

"Well, I think I need some more experience before facing a psychic-type Gym Leader…" said Jacob.

"Believe me," said Melanie, "you do. Sabrina's insanely strong, and facing psychic-type pokémon is very tricky."

"There's enough time to get to Cerulean City before it gets dark." said Jacob, getting nods of consent from both Jake and Melanie.

By the time Melanie, Jake and Jacob arrived back in Cerulean City, after having encountered some pokémon trainers on the way, it was already a pretty late time of the evening. So the three trainers agreed that there was no point in going to Misty's Gym, which was probably about to be closed for the night, and decided to go there in the following morning.

After Jake and Jacob put their belongings in the inn room they had rented upon their arrival Jake said he felt like going for a walk and left. The way Jacob saw it, his friend was obviously still upset. However Jake did take his pokémon with him this time, so hopefully that was a good sign. Jacob was still curious as to why Jake has never mentioned Bertha to him before, but he probably wasn't going to ever get an answer to that question.

He released his pokémon from their pokéballs in order to let them move around as freely as they wished in the room, and he was about to turn on the TV when his Xtransceiver began ringing. He looked at the screen. It was neither a number he was able to recognize nor was it Lucian's number. Jacob picked up the call, but the image that appeared on the screen was very blurry and he was unable to tell who it was. He stared at the screen, trying to figure out who had called him.

_"Hello?"_

"Yes? Hello? Who is this?" asked Jacob, confused.

_"I thought you wanted to talk to me."_ said the voice, which sounded like It belonged to an elderly woman. _"This is Bertha. My friend Lucian gave me your number."_

"Oh, right!" said Jacob, finally remembering. "Thank you so much for calling! I'm sorry if I'm bothering you when you're upset or distressed…"

_"Ah, yes. Lucian did say I should seriously consider not calling you."_ said Bertha. Jacob was unable to see her face, so it was hard to tell whether she was really not in the mood to talk to him or whether she had just said what she had said as a joke. If she and Jake were really related then there was a huge chance that she was being sarcastic regardless of the fact that she didn't sound like it. Therefore, it was anyone's guess.

"Right… Well, I did watch your interview the previous night." said Jacob.

_"Go ahead."_

"I also saw how upset you looked before Cynthia came, and, um…" he paused, not sure how to start, "Okay, I'll just get to the point…"

_"Do that."_ said Bertha with a chuckle.

"My name is Jacob, I'm from Pewter City."

_"Oh, did I know you back when I was living there?"_

"No, that's not it…" said Jacob, still trying to figure out how to say what he had to say, "I might upset you with the way I'm going to start saying what I have to say, so let me apologize for that and-"

_"Ahaha! Listen, kiddo, I know that whatever it is you have to say to me will most likely annoy me somehow. If I didn't want to listen to you I wouldn't have called. If Lucian and Sabrina really wanted to make sure I wouldn't talk to you then you wouldn't have been able to reach me, and you sound like a good kid. Go ahead."_

"Okay…" said Jacob, "You know how, yesterday, during your interview, you said that your niece, her husband and their children were killed during a Team Rocket Raid?"

_"Yes."_

"Well, um… I think you're mistaken."

For a moment Bertha said absolutely nothing. _"Kid, I really don't have time for a prank call. This subject is very painful to me and it is not something to make fun of."_

"I know this sounds absurd to you, but I'm serious."

_"I saw the news seven years ago, Jacob. Jacob, was it?"_

"Yes."

_"The four of them were killed. It was said that a man, a woman, a girl and a boy were killed. My niece's name was mentioned and I knew how they used to go everywhere together. Plus whenever I called their house before and after watching the article nobody picked up. Only after 2 days somebody finally answered the phone. Do you know who it was?"_

"No."

_"The man from whom they used to rent the apartment they lived in, that's who!"_

"Oh, sorry…"

_"Are you done?" _asked Bertha, sounding like whatever desire she had to talk to him was now gone.

"There's just one small thing I need to ask. If you won't want to continue talking to me after that I will never try to contact you again."

_"Fine. What is it?"_

"It's regarding your niece's son."

_"Go on."_

"What was his name?"

**A/N: This chapter was a bit delayed because I had 3 finals in the past week and a half. Actually I have another one tomorrow, but don't worry about it. I've studied way too much for it already and studying for it some more would destroy my lame excuse for a sane mind. ._.**


	22. Busted

"That's him!" said Jacob, finally breaking the silence that had taken place between him and Bertha for the past few minutes. While he has never believed even for a moment that the similarity between Bertha's story and Jake's story was a coincidence, he still ended up becoming rather speechless when Bertha unknowingly confirmed to him that his friend and her niece's son had the same name. If there was even the slightest chance that Jacob was mistaken it was now even smaller; because what were the odds of two different people of the exact same age and the exact same name having the exact same background? There was absolutely no way that Jake and Bertha weren't related. "I knew it!"

"_Pardon me?_" asked Bertha. Jacob was quite surprised to find out that she was still on the line, especially when considering the fact that she was clearly not in the mood to talk about so painful a subject to a complete stranger. In fact Jacob was quite certain that, had he been in her place, he would have hung up the call a long time ago. Heck, he probably wouldn't have made the call to begin with.

"Look, you'll probably find it very hard to believe and I won't blame you for that, but your niece's son is _not_ dead." said Jacob. This was followed by another long silence. He was still unable to see Bertha's face clearly on the screen of his Xtransceiver, but he was pretty sure that her expression was an expression of shock at having something like that said to her.

"_What are you talking about?_" she asked, sounding much less confident in what she was saying all of a sudden.

"I have a friend named Jake, and-"

"_Is this some kind of cruel joke?_" asked Bertha defensively, "_Do you think this is funny?!_"

"No, not at all! Just hear me out!"

Bertha said nothing.

"I met Jake 6 years ago when my father and I moved to Pewter City. He's 17 now and about two weeks ago he told me that his parents and sister were killed during a Team Rocket raid at a department store. I've always known that he was an orphan but I never managed to get him to tell me what happened." Jacob stopped talking, deciding to let Bertha say something in case she wanted to. When she didn't, he continued. "Yesterday I saw your interview on TV and when you talked about what had happened to your niece and her family I knew that it couldn't be just a coincidence. That's why I called you; I wanted to see whether I was right or not. And, now that you've told me your great-nephew's name, I'm sure that he's the same one."

"_Look, kid, I've had enough of this nonsense."_ said Bertha after another long silence. "_I'm hanging up._"

"No, wait; listen to me for a moment!"

"_No, you listen to me! This is serious and I will not continue listening to you as you try to mess with me for your own amusement!"_ Jacob said nothing. There had to be a way to convince her that he was telling the truth. "_Cynthia was right. I shouldn't have given that interview._"

"I-"

"_There's absolutely no reason for me to believe you! If he really was alive, as you claim him to be, he would have contacted me by now! Also, if he really had told you about himself, how come you only found out about me yesterday? Wouldn't he have told you that as well?!_"

"I don't know." admitted Jacob. Those were a few of the many questions that were stuck in his mind. "I was hoping you'd have the answer to that."

"_Well what exactly did your 'friend', if he's real to begin with, say when you approached him with the subject?"_

"I didn't ask Jake a single thing about you." said Jacob. He knew Jake very well and he knew that Jake would say absolutely nothing on something he had no desire to talk about. For example, Jake had concealed the causes of his being an orphan from Jacob for 6 long years of them knowing each other. "Because I know, as you probably do too, that he never talks about things he doesn't want to talk about. In fact whenever I approach him with a subject he wants to avoid he'll pretend to not even know what I'm talking about."

"_Nonsense!_" exclaimed Bertha. "_What in the world gave you the impression that he wouldn't want to talk about me?!_"

"Well…" said Jacob, knowing that what he was about to say would make Bertha even angrier than she already was, "We were watching the broadcast yesterday, and when you appeared on the screen he just got up and left the room. In fact he literally slammed the door behind him."

"_This is ridiculous! Anyone can just randomly say that he knows a 17 year old teenager with the same name and the same background. That doesn't mean that it's the truth!_"

"Look, why would I possibly want to lie about something like this?" asked Jacob and, not knowing what else to say, he went on. "Is there any way that I can prove that I'm telling the truth?"

"_I don't think so, kiddo._" said Bertha, sounding a lot calmer, but still a little agitated. "_I just can't find any logic in what you're saying._"

"Wait, I think I know!" For a long moment he said nothing he thought carefully. One year ago. He and Jake were 16. It was exactly 6 years after the raid at the department store. He followed Jake to the graveyard out of curiosity. After Jake had left, he approached the three graves and looked at the names. It was literally sitting somewhere in his memory… "Emily!" he exclaimed, having finally recalled it.

"_Wh-what?_"

"That was the name of your niece's daughter, wasn't it?" asked Jacob hopefully.

"_H-how did you know that?_" asked Bertha, her voice shaky.

Jacob was about to explain it to her when his Bulbasaur caught his attention by tapping him on the shoulder with one of his vines. Apparently the dual grass/poison type was still awake. Jacob looked around and saw that Bulbasaur was standing near the door, and after a few more seconds he was able to hear footsteps outside in the hallway. Immediately Jacob ended the call with Bertha, knowing that he couldn't risk keeping the line open in case Jake was the one walking down the hallway. Seeing how late of an hour it already was, who else could it be?

Jacob turned on the TV and immediately switched the channel to a channel where a soap opera was being broadcasted and turned up the volume a little (seeing how Jake might have heard some noise coming from their room). After a few seconds the door was unlocked and Jake entered the room without his pokémon. Jacob came to the conclusion that Eevee, Charmander, Vulpix and Dratini had gotten tired and that Jake had returned them into their pokéballs before coming back.

"Are you still awake?" asked Jake with a raised eyebrow as he closed the door behind him and locked it. He was quite used to finding Jacob asleep by the time he returned from his walks.

"Yeah." said Jacob with a fake yawn.

Jake looked at the TV and then at Jacob. "I thought I heard some noise from in here. I didn't know you watch soaps." he said with a chuckle.

"I don't." said Jacob. "If I have trouble sleeping then they make me sleepy."

"Huh! Interesting!" said Jake with a grin. "I never thought a soap opera could have benefits. I think I'll try this little strategy of yours in the future."

Jacob pretended to laugh, "Hehe, yeah…" Once Jake had his back turned to him he set his Xtransceiver to silent mode, which was a smart thing to do because Bertha called him again immediately afterwards. Jacob took his Xtransceiver off his arm and shoved it deep into his bag where Jake wouldn't be able to see the light coming from its screen. He knew that Bertha was probably going insane at the moment, but there was no way for him to continue talking to her while Jake was around. Yes, it made him feel bad for leaving her hanging like that, but he couldn't just get up and say "I'm going out for a few minutes". He couldn't risk having Jake follow him as a result of suspicion. While he still had no idea as to why Jake was concealing the matter from him he knew that Jake would get quite angry if he found out that Jacob was snooping around like that.

_The following day, in Misty's Gym_

"Hmm… This is odd." mumbled Jake quietly to himself as he looked down at his Flareon. The now evolved Eevee appeared to be rather fatigued and had a rather embarrassed expression on his face. "Could you try that again?" Flareon nodded at his trainer and attempted shooting fire out of his mouth again, but what came out was something that didn't seem even half as strong as Ember, which was a pretty basic fire-type move. Flareon let out a small whimper and stared down at the floor, his ears flat against his head. The fact that Vulpix was looking made him feel even worse. "Don't beat yourself up over this!" said Jake with an encouraging smile as he kneeled down beside the nervous-looking pokémon. "It's no big deal."

"Don't worry; I'll keep cheering you on until you get it right!" said Melanie, who was standing some distance away and holding her Metapod in her arms. "Because you're cute and fluffy! You rock, Woohoo!"

Jacob was standing silently next to her with a thoughtful expression on his face. He hasn't said much to either Jake or Melanie all day because he was unable to stop thinking about the talk he had with Bertha the previous night. He did manage to find a few situations where Jake wasn't around and where calling Bertha was a possibility, but for some reason he kept ending up hearing a prerecorded message which said that the line he was attempting to reach was 'currently unavailable'. Upon waking up earlier that day he discovered that Bertha had attempted reaching him again over 20 times after their little talk, and not being able to call her back made him feel even worse about hanging up on her like that.

"There really is no reason to be concerned about this." said Misty, who was standing next to Jake and Flareon. "This is perfectly normal."

"Have you ever trained a Flareon before?" asked Jake, looking up at her with a surprised look on his face.

"No, silly!" said Misty with a chuckles. "All Eeveelutions need some time to get their bearings after evolving, especially Espeons and Umbreons. Since Eevees are normal type pokémon it usually takes them a while to get used to their new type. I once had a challenger whose Eevee had just evolved into a Vaporeon, and she really wanted to earn the Cascade Badge with Vaporeon as one of the pokémon used in the battle because she thought that Vaporeon would benefit a lot by battling other water-types. She and her Vaporeon had the same problem as you and your Flareon, but I guided them through it and they got over it in no time!"

"And did she earn the Cascade Badge in the end?" asked Melanie, looking quite interested and excited by Misty's story.

"Well, even after her Vaporeon got his bearings it still took them a few tries because my water-type pokémon were far more experienced." said Misty. She then smiled, "But she earned it fair and square in the end. All of those who are truly determined will eventually beat a Gym Leader. There comes a point where a challenger already knows all of the Gym Leader's tricks and strategies. By attempting to defeat a Gym Leader again and again the challenger and his pokémon keep getting stronger as well as developing more and more styles of battling. A Gym Leader's job is to give the challenger a hard time and to hand out a Badge only when a trainer and his / her pokémon prove what they're truly capable of achieving together."

"You probably won't be able to help us with our fire-type issues," said Jake, standing up, "so we'll just have to get through this little block on our own." He looked down at Flareon with a smile. "Won't we?" Flareon smiled and nodded, looking quite motivated by Misty's encouragement. "Okay Misty. As of now I'm a fire-type amateur and you're a water-type expert. Let's get to the part where I battle you in order to get better even though I'm at a clear type-disadvantage and even though neither my pokémon nor I have enough experience to beat you."

Misty chuckled. "That's an attitude I rarely see nowadays. I like it. Come on, let's start!"

Jacob would have gladly watched the battle, even when considering that it was most likely going to be a rather short one, but his Xtransceiver began vibrating (he had set it to vibration mode after waking up). He looked at the screen and saw that Bertha was the one calling him. Without saying a word to Jake, Melanie, or Misty he went to the far end of that particular area of the Gym and then picked up the call. This time he could see her face clearly on the screen and, from the looks of it, she had probably spent a rather sleepless night after talking to him yesterday.

"_What on earth was that about?_" she asked, obviously angry. "_How could you just hang up like that and ignore my calls?!_"

"I'm really sorry, I had to! Jake was about to come into the room." This probably sounded like a very dumb excuse to her, but it was true nonetheless.

"_This is ridiculous! Let me talk to him, I want to see him!_" She was obviously unable to think of one good reason for Jake to not want to talk to her, and Jacob couldn't really blame her for that because he was just as clueless as she was.

"I think that wouldn't be a very good idea…"

"_Fine. Then you leave me no choice but to fly all the way to Kanto myself. You better be telling the truth._"

She then hung up the call before Jacob had a chance to say anything else to her. Jacob sighed and turned around. Misty was still on the Gym's battlefield with Melanie and the two were in the middle of a conversation. Jake, Charmander, Vulpix and Flareon were no longer there. Even Dratini, who had up until then spent his time swimming in one of the Gym's pools, was now gone. "Wasn't he just about to battle Misty?" thought Jacob to himself as he began making his way back over to Misty and Melanie. There was no way that Misty had won the battle _that_ fast, nor was it possible that Jake had left the Gym because he was angry about losing (not only because Jake first challenged Misty while knowing that he would lose but also because it was very unlikely that he would get frustrated about losing a pokémon battle).

"Hey, Misty, where did Jake go?" asked he as he arrived next to them. "Wasn't he just about to battle you?"

"I should ask you the same thing." said Misty, looking slightly annoyed. "We were about to start when he said he had something to say to you first, and after walking all the way over to where you were he just left."

"…"

"I was quite looking forward to seeing how much he has improved since the last time I saw you three, especially after I heard about his match with Erika." continued the Gym Leader. "But since you two also have a Gym Badge I'm also curious to see how better you've gotten! Come on, who wants to go first?"

"Um…" said Jacob, looking at Melanie, "Melanie should go first, I… I have to go… Bye!"

"What's wrong?" asked Melanie, noticing from his expression that something was bothering him. However, he left without saying a word. "Wait, I can't battle Misty!"

"Aww, why not?" asked Misty, sounding disappointed.

"All I have at the moment are my Charmander and my Onix…" said Melanie sheepishly. Her Charmander was a slightly different case because it was much smaller than Onix, but Onix was so big that trying to avoid Misty's attack would be next to impossible. Battling Misty with her current team was a recipe for failure. "Oh, and my Metapod, but he's kind of, well… a Metapod…"

"Oh come on, don't worry about it!" said Misty with an encouraging smile. "You can never know when your fire-type or rock/ground-type pokémon will have no choice but to face a water-type pokémon!"

"I know, but…"

"What if Team Plasma suddenly showed up and attacked with water-type pokémon?"

"Those bastards! I hate them!" she stomped her foot angrily and looked back at Misty. "Okay, let's battle!"

_Elsewhere_

"Jake, are you in here?" asked Jacob worriedly as he unlocked the door to their inn room and went inside. Not only was Jake not there but all of his belongings were gone. Since he and Jacob had left for the Gym earlier that morning with nothing but their pokémon and a few healing items, this meant that he must have taken his belongings a few minutes ago and left. "Darn, I missed him…" he sighed, "I need to find him…"

"I think this time I'm actually gonna kill him." said Jake to himself as he walked through the street with his pokémon following closely behind. The three fire-types were somewhat aware of what was going on (having seen Bertha's interview on TV and having been there when Jake heard Jacob talk to Bertha on the Xtransceiver). They were obviously not very happy with the way their trainer was dealing with all of this but they also seemed to know that trying to talk some sense into him would be impossible until he has had a chance to calm down. Jake stopped for a moment with a thoughtful expression on his face and then nodded. "Yeah, this is the time."

**A/N: Stupid finals. They are the greatest evil known to mankind (or at least to "teenagerkind". That's not a really word, by the way ._.)**

**However I only have two more exams left. One will take place on the 4th of July and the other on the 11th of July. After that I'll be back to my normal pace of updating.**


	23. Seeing Red

"I've told you again and again, Brad, I really don't like you and I have no interest in talking to you." said Jake with a sigh and a surprisingly relaxed countenance as he stopped walking and turned around. "And yet, for some reason, you keep thinking that deep inside I do like you and that I'm always happy to see you when you show up at the worst possible moments."

"Wait…" said Brad, who was probably the last person Jake felt like seeing other than Jacob, "Did you just say that deep inside you like me and that you're always happy to see me when I show up at the worst possible moments?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"Mother f-" he stopped and forced himself to calm down by taking in a deep breath. There were only a few times in Jake's life where he had really, _really_, lost his temper, and Brad just wasn't worth it. It would be an absolute lie to say that Jake wasn't considering the option of slitting Brad's throat (even if he didn't have a knife to do it with).

"I have to say, Jakey, I'm very disappointed to hear that."

"…"

Brad was about so say something else when he noticed that Jake was tapping his finger in the air, as if he was trying to press a button that wasn't there. "What are you doing?"

"This toilet is broken."

"What?"

"I keep flushing but you're not disappearing."

"…Uh… What's that supposed to mean?"

Jake sighed and rolled his eyes. What was the point in annoying Brad if he didn't even understand that he was being laughed at? Usually Jake found situations like that even funnier, but recently they have been starting to look more sad than funny. "I heard you've been to Saffron City." he grinned, "You couldn't beat Misty, could you?"

Brad frowned, "Shut up, how can you know that I didn't go to Saffron because I _did_ beat her?"

"Did you beat her?"

"No."

"See? I can tell by the way you're back here in Cerulean now."

"Oh, that? I was stalking you guys so that I could beat Jacob in a match."

Jake sighed and facepalmed. "Alright, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Jacob doesn't really have the Cascade Badge. I just wanted you to leave me alone so I told you that he does." Brad was about to say something, but Jake cut him short and continued. "However he did get the Gym Badge from Celadon City. If you want to go all the way over there and away from me feel free to do it. Also, Melanie managed to defeat the Gym Leader from Vermilion City. Feel free to go there as well before showing your face again." For a moment he considered telling Brad that he too had the Rainbow Badge but that would have been a very bad idea. The last thing he needed right now was a pokémon battle against Brad. He didn't have time to waste on that, and he wanted to leave Cerulean City as soon as possible.

"No, I think I'll just beat Jacob right now!"

"Fine. Then leave me alone already."

"Wait!"

"Oh for the love of god…" And to think how close he was to getting away from Brad! All he had to do was to keep walking. But no, Brad just couldn't leave him alone, could he? With a frustrated sigh he turned around and looked at Brad once again. "What?"

"I've been thinking about it and I realized that maybe I actually need to think of a strategy if I want to win."

Jake looked slightly surprised to hear that. "Wow… You used your brain. Well, it took you 17 years, but that's better than waiting another 17 years."

Brad ignored him (even though it was easy to see that he was starting to lose his patience). "Since you two have been travelling together I thought that maybe you can help me. Can you?"

Jake could not believe it. Was Brad really asking him for help? "Alright, listen carefully…" he said, closing the distance between him and Brad and placing a hand on his shoulder in a so-called supportive gesture, "No."

"Maybe I just have bad luck or something?" said Brad, almost as if he hadn't heard Jake's _negative_ response. This was one of the many things about Brad that annoyed Jake so much. He just couldn't take no (or "go away") for an answer.

"Ugh…" Jake sighed, removing his hand from Brad's shoulder and rolling his eyes. "Brad, you don't have bad luck." he said, after a short silence. "The reason that you keep losing all the time is because you're a dumbass."

_Back at the inn_

"Alright, if I were Jake, where would I go to?" asked Jacob out aloud as he walked around the room in circles. "As far away from _me_, probably…" Jake could have gone to 3 different destinations: Mt. Moon (to Pewter City), Saffron City or Rock Tunnel (to Lavender Town). If he had gone to Saffron City that meant that from there he might have gone to Lavender Town, Celadon City or Vermilion City. In other words, the odds of randomly picking up the same track Jake had picked were quite slim. "The whole 'far away from me' part doesn't really narrow it down… And I should really, _really_ stop talking to myself…"

He looked at his three pokémon who were sitting there and staring at him silently. Well, Pidgeotto and Bulbasaur were. Bronzor was floating in the air with its usual blank expression. "Since you guys are here I'm not really talking to myself, am I? I mean… This is normal, right?" His pokémon stared at him for a few moments, and eventually Bulbasaur shook his head, as if trying to say 'no, you're starting to act like you're crazy'. Actually, Jacob had every right to freak out. Not only had Jake found out everything about the way he's been snooping around lately, but in addition to that Bertha had decided to just come all the way to Kanto. This seemed like a recipe for disaster, and he was caught right in the middle of it.

He sighed. "What am I going to do? Bertha's going to come here and she's obviously going to want to see Jake, but from the looks of it, even if I _do_ find him, he's not going to want to see her." After a short pause he resumed walking around in circles. "And they're both probably furious with me at the moment. Jake most likely wants to set me on fire right now and from Bertha's tone I can only assume that she just might have her Rhyperior crush my bones."

With another sigh he sat down on one of the beds. After a few moments of silence he got an idea. "Hey, Pidgeotto, could you fly around and see if you can spot Jake? Maybe he's still in the city." The flying-type pokémon silently nodded and then flew out through the window. Right now having Pidgeotto tell him in which direction Jake was going was pretty much the best and only option Jacob had. He got up and walked over to the window in hope of seeing Pidgeotto return, but he knew that it would take Pidgeotto some time to scan the entire city.

"_Bulbasaur!_"

Jacob turned around. The grass-type pokémon was currently under one of the beds. "What are you doing down there?" Bulbasaur eventually came out, holding something in his mouth. "What's this?" He kneeled next to Bulbasaur, who willingly handed the object to him. It was a small notebook, and an old one at that. Jacob opened it and flipped the pages. Touching the paper reminded Jacob of the feel one got when reading through a very old book. The notebook even smelled like an old book. "It's just a notebook."

"_Saur!_" From Bulbasaur's expression it seemed like he thought that it wasn't just some random old and forgotten notebook. This just happened to be the conclusion the grass-type pokémon had come to after seeing Jake stare at it in the middle of the night.

Jacob raised an eyebrow, opened at a random page of and began reading aloud. "_My auntie bought me an ocarina for my birthday. I don't think I have a natural talent for music, but my brother said he'd tutor me. I don't know how, but he's very good at playing on that thing._" He paused. "Hm. Something tells me that I'm supposed to have a moment of realization or something else of the sort."

A few seconds later a pillow hit him straight in the face. He looked in front of him and saw Bronzor floating there with a blank expression on its face. The psychic-type pokémon must have thrown the pillow with its psychic abilities. "What was that for?" asked Jacob with a frown.

"_Bulbasaur!_"

Jacob looked at Bulbasaur for a few moments before reading the same paragraph again. Then it hit him. "This is Emily's diary!" He facepalmed. "Jake mentioned it to me a few times in the past." He stood up and looked around the room, trying to figure out how did the notebook he was holding end up beneath the bed. "It must have fallen out of his bag and slid over there while he wasn't paying attention." Jacob considered giving Jake a call but he knew that Jake would most likely ignore it. "He actually kept it with him all these years… Wow…"

To some people it might have looked like some random, plain and ordinary notebook which a 7 years old girl had once written in but it was much more than that. Dreams and ambitions are dreams and ambitions, regardless of the age of the person that has them. The fact that they belong to a child doesn't make them any less realistic and meaningful than an adult's. This was the diary of a child who may have not dreamed of doing something great like being the first astronaut to land on Mars but who still had her own hopes for things she'd like to do with her life one day.

If you chop down a tree too early it will never bear fruits and fulfill its potential, and that will be quite a tragic waste.

Jacob stared at the notebook again. "I wonder if he had ever read it." The way he knew Jake, the answer to that was most likely be negative. One thing he was completely sure about was that Jake wouldn't be happy if Jacob read it. Yes, he had read that one paragraph, but that was before he knew what the notebook actually was and who it belonged to. Jacob sighed and closed the notebook, deciding that he might as well head back to the Cerulean Gym in order to see what Melanie had to say about the subject. Maybe she'd be able to think of a good way to find Jake in case Pidgeotto's search proved to be fruitless.

"So…" said Jacob to Melanie sometime later as they both sat down on a bench outside of Misty's Gym, "What do you think?"

"Hm…" Melanie made no answer, but she seemed to be thoroughly thinking about everything that Jacob had just told her.

"Oh, did I mention that Bertha's probably on her way to Kanto right now?" added Jacob after a short silence before letting out a sigh and rubbing his forehead with one of his hands. "If I end up in a lunatic asylum will you come to visit me?"

"This whole thing certainly blew up in your face." said Melanie eventually, ignoring his question.

"You don't say…" All that was left to do now was to dress Melanie up as Sherlock Holmes and give her a pipe.

"Hey," she said, looking up and pointing towards the sky. "Is that your Pidgeotto?"

Jacob looked up. It was his Pidgeotto. The bird pokémon was currently heading towards them. "It is." he said, standing up with a hopeful expression on his face. He extended one of his arms, which the flying-type pokémon then landed on. "Have you seen Jake anywhere?" Much to the relief of the two trainers, the bird-type pokémon nodded his head in approval and extended a wing towards a certain direction. After looking in that direction, Jacob and Melanie were able to see Mt. Moon in the distance. "He's going back to Pewter City."

"I wonder why to Pewter City out of all places." said Melanie after a short silence.

"I'm not sure." said Jacob with a thoughtful expression. He remembered that one of the main reasons Jake had eventually decided to go on a pokémon journey was because he wanted to get out of Pewter City. Therefore, Pewter City seemed like the most unlikely place Jake would go to. "He's probably going there in order to get away from me. I bet he thinks Pewter City is the place I'm less likely to look for him at."

"He's awfully mad, isn't he?"

"As far as I know him," said Jacob, "and I've known Jake for 6 years, yes." There was a short silence. "But I'm going to go after him anyway. I'm sure he'll listen to reason eventually. Plus Bertha's on the way and I think she has a right to see him." Melanie said nothing. "You don't have to come with me if you don't want to."

"I'll come with you." answered the brunette. "You're less likely to get killed if there are eyewitnesses."

"Alright, suit yourself." He took his backpack off of his back and began looking through it. "I know how to find him once we get to the city."

"Really?" asked Melanie, looking surprised and curious at the same time. The way she saw it they may have found out where Jake was heading to but finding him within Pewter City was going to be another problem. "How?"

"Before leaving the inn room Jake and I were staying in Bulbasaur found this under one of the beds." said Jacob as he took Emily's diary out of the bag. "It belonged to Jake's sister and he must have accidentally left it behind."

"So…" said Melanie, wanting to see whether she had understood what Jacob was trying to imply, "Once he finds out that you have it he'll want to get it back."

"Exactly." said Jacob with a nod of approval. "But…"

"But what?"

"If Jake's as mad as I think he is he'll most likely not answer my calls." He paused for a moment. "However he doesn't know that I've told you about all of this so he might pick up if you call him. He's not mad at you."

"I see…" said Melanie, looking slightly hesitant. After a short silence she took in a deep breath and nodded. "Alright. Here I go." She was about to press the dial button but then she looked at Jacob, who was nervously staring at the screen of her Xtransceiver. "Um…"

"What?"

"You might want to stay out of the camera's view." said Melanie with a nervous smile. "If he sees you he might hang up."

"True..." Jacob went ahead and sat down on the other side of the bench where there was no chance Jake would be able to see him through the camera on Melanie's hand-phone-watch. Melanie then made the call, and like Jacob had expected, Jake picked up.

"_Hey Melanie._" said he with a friendly smile. Melanie hated admitting it, but there was no way to tell that Jake was angry by looking at his expression. He didn't even sound upset. Not even a little. "_How's it going?"_ Since he didn't know that Melanie knew what was going on he thought that the she was just curious about the way he had disappeared earlier.

"Um… It's about the way you disappeared earlier…" While quite an energetic person Melanie never did well while under stress (like when she, Jake and Jacob confronted Team Plasma at the daycare outside of Cerulean City, for example).

"_Oh, don't worry about it. I'm fine. I just had to leave._"

"Ugh, I'll just say it…" said Melanie with a sigh as she took in another deep breath, "I know you're mad at Jacob but-"

"_He's sitting right next to you, isn't he?_" asked Jake with a frown.

"Just listen to me, please!"

"_…_"

"Jacob found your sister's diary under one of the beds. You must have forgotten it there."

"_What?!_" He then disappeared from her screen, which only meant that he was looking through his backpack and therefore unable to aim his Xtransceiver at himself. After a few seconds of searching he appeared back on the screen. "_Let me talk to him._"

Jacob gulped and then sat down next to Melanie where Jake would be able to see him. "Um… Hey… Bulbasaur found it in the inn room after you had already left."

"_Did you read it?!_" asked Jake with another frown. He certainly did look and sound as angry as Jacob thought he would be.

"No, I swear I did not!" said Jacob defensively. "Well, I read just a small amount because I didn't know what it was. But as soon as I realized that it was Emily's diary I closed it!"

"_…_" Jake still looked angry but at least he seemed to believe Jacob. It was either because he couldn't think of a reason for Jacob to lie about something like that or because he just wasn't in the mood to argue about it. "_I'm on my way to Pewter City. Could you give it to me there?_"

"Um… Sure..."

"_Okay._" There was a short pause. "_Bertha better not be there with you._"

"Look," said Jacob, desperately, "could you at least explain why you're acting like this?"

"_No._" Jake then hung up the call, causing Jacob to sigh. This was starting to get a little old.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Melanie, not knowing what else to say.

"I'll give it back to him."

"I meant about Bertha."

"I'm not going to prevent her from seeing her great-nephew, whether he likes it or not." said Jacob with a sigh as he got up and put his backpack on after placing Emily's diary back inside. He didn't want to even think about the way Jake would kill him if he ended up losing it.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Melanie worriedly as she got up and began to follow him.

"I'm going to be honest with you…" said Jacob with a blank expression, "No. This is the worst idea I have ever had, and I've had plenty of those."


	24. Not What it Looks Like

It took Jake quite a while to get Brad to stop following him around earlier that day in Cerulean City but all he eventually had to do was to ask Brad whether he was fond of getting kneed in a certain place. That did the trick, although Jake most likely wouldn't have done something like that. He wasn't a violent person and, as much as Brad was annoying, it wasn't like he was a member of Team Plasma or Team Rocket. Besides at some point all people can end up losing their temper, even if they don't have a short fuse. In fact the only time in his entire life where he actually did hit someone was back at Erika's Gym a few days ago where he punched that one Team Plasma grunt who had stolen Dratini's egg.

After finally getting Brad to go away Jake headed towards Mt. Moon right away and by the time he got to the other side it was already evening. However he didn't want to spend the night in his old hometown and therefore decided to sleep under the stars. It didn't take too long before it got dark. At some point he took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled as he sat up in his sleeping bag and stared at the small bonfire he had sat up a few minutes earlier.

It was quiet around him with the exception of a few crickets and the sound emitted from the small amount of nearly-consumed branches as they burned and kept the bonfire going. Although you can't technically call this 'complete silence' Jake found it just as peaceful and relaxing. He loved it, especially the sound of the branches as they burned. The noise of the crickets created an ambiance that was completely different from a city's. There were no sounds of cars and no one was threatening to kill somebody just because they had been cut in line (or something else that, at the end of the day, meant absolutely nothing and definitely wasn't important enough in order to beat the living hell out of somebody for).

Melanie's phone call had arrived a few minutes before he entered the cave after leaving Cerulean City, which was lucky because as far as he could remember there was no reception inside Mt. Moon. If it weren't for her and Jacob it might have taken him even an entire week to realize that he had left his sister's journal behind, which would have made him quite mad at himself. Well, to be honest, he still was angry at himself for not noticing its absence, but the fact that the diary was going to be returned to him soon made the whole thing less bad than it would have been otherwise.

So at least _that_ turned out alright. There was still this whole mess (or burden, the way he saw it) with Bertha. According to what he had managed to hear from Jacob's talk on the phone with her earlier at the Cerulean Gym she was on her way to Kanto. He could still remember her voice from a few hours ago and the way she appeared on the screen of Jacob's Xtransceiver. They were just the way they have been ever since he could remember. Well, maybe other than the fact that Bertha looked a little older, but he was still able to recognize her on that small screen. Perhaps the fact that he had also seen the beginning of her interview on TV three days ago helped him identify her so quickly.

It was all too strange. She's been gone for 7 years, hasn't made a single attempt to contact him or see how he was doing and now, all of a sudden, she decided that she did care? He hasn't seen her ever since his parents and sister had died. It had definitely been fun living completely by himself, working harder than most _adult_ people and not going to school like a normal kid. The way Jake saw it, the only reason she was coming to Kanto was because Jacob had discovered that she and Jake were related. She was probably afraid of what would happen if the media found out that she had abandoned a 10 years old boy to take care of himself.

Jake grabbed a few tree branches that were nearby and dropped them into the fire after a few seconds of staring at them. There was a sizzling sound and the flames rose a little while the branches burned. After a few moments the flames calmed down, causing Jake to let out a sigh. Next to his sleeping bag Flareon and Vulpix were sleeping peacefully (with Flareon cuddled up against Vulpix, having once again lain beside the fox-like pokémon after she had fallen asleep).

Dratini was nowhere to be seen, having been placed back inside his pokéball. The last thing Jake needed was to wake up the following day and find out that his baby dragon-type pokémon had gone missing during the night. Charmander, unlike her two team members, was not asleep. She must have not fallen asleep to begin with. Jake, upon realizing that Charmander was actually awake, looked at her in the corner of his eye for a moment before staring back at the bonfire.

He wasn't completely clueless. He knew more than well that all of his pokémon were aware, to a certain degree, of what he was going through. Well, maybe Charmander, Flareon and Vulpix were. Dratini still didn't understand that "stop trying to play with Charmander; she doesn't like you" meant "you still have a whole life ahead of you; stop doing that". Nobody could really blame him for that, though. After all the baby dragon-type had only hatched three days ago, and the only thing he was able to identify without difficulty was a plate filled with either water or pokémon food. The only problem with _that_ was that he kept thinking that Charmander enjoyed having him crawl by his own plate, ignore it, and eat from hers instead.

The small fire-type dragon-like pokémon was silently looking at him with her big puppy dog eyes. "What's the matter?" asked Jake calmly, using his 'are you hungry or anything else of the sort' tone. When you think about it, though, she was the one that should have asked _him _that question. Since he couldn't understand what she was saying it was kind of impossible for her to try and help him. It would have made her feel a whole lot better if she could talk to her trainer about what was on his mind. Then she would have at least felt like she had tried to help, even if nothing good ended up coming of it.

"_Charmander!_" exclaimed the little pokémon, randomly waving her tiny hands.

Jake couldn't help but chuckle. He never grew tired of how adorable Charmander was (well, most of the time). "Are you cold?"

"_Char!_" Charmander shook her head, causing Jake to sigh.

"Yeah, I thought so." There was a short silence, after which the trainer smiled at his pokémon. "Come here." He picked the little pokémon up and placed her down on his lap (it certainly was a good thing that the sleeping bag he was sitting in was flame retardant). For a while he just sat there like that, caressing Charmander's head every now and then (not that she seemed to mind).

"_Charmander, Char!_" Charmander looked up at her trainer, who was more than surprised when she suddenly grabbed his Xtransceiver with her tiny claws. "_Char!_"

"I wish it was that simple." he said with a sigh.

"_Char?_"

"I'm glad to see that you care, though." He smiled, caressing the pokémon once more.

_The next day_

"You know, when I first left Pewter City I never imagined I'll be coming back to it _this_ quickly." said Jacob to Melanie as they walked down the street. Now that he was thinking about it, it has been maybe two weeks or even less since he and Jake had first left Pewter City to go on their journey. While he did know that he would eventually come back to Pewter City at some point in order challenge Brock for the Boulder Badge he never thought he'd end up rushing his return for something that, when you think about it, wasn't really related to his goal of challenging the Elite Four at all. However he did believe that certain things were far more important than collecting Gym Badges and it wasn't like he was in a hurry to collect all eight of them, seeing how Indigo Plateau was only going to open its gates in about 7 months.

"I did." said Melanie with an excited smile on her face, causing Jacob to raise an eyebrow. "I've only been here for a few hours when I came here looking for you the other day. I was in such a hurry to catch up to you that I forgot to drop by at the Pewter City Gym!"

"You know we're not here for the Boulder Badge, right?" asked Jacob. "We're here to find Jake and give him his sister's journal back." He knew that, while Melanie could be serious when she decided to, she could get sidetracked quite easily. "Maybe I can talk some sense into him as well…"

"Have you even spoken to Bertha ever since yesterday?" asked Melanie after a short silence. "You know, after Jake had caught you?"

Jacob shook his head and sighed. "No. She hasn't called. She did say that she would come to Kanto… Maybe she'll call once she gets here?" It was kind of weird that she hasn't called when considering how it has been 24 hours since their phone call and how she sounded like she wanted to get to Kanto as soon as possible. Yes, Sinnoh was quite far away from Kanto, but surely one could get there in less than 24 hours by going on a plane.

"Well… if she decided to come yesterday, when it was still morning, then she might be here already… Right?"

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." said Jacob with a thoughtful expression, bringing a hand to his chin. "When you think about it, she hasn't been here for about 7 years. Maybe she's still trying, to, um… adjust to the atmosphere or something…" He thought about it some more. "Well, the fact that Jake and I left Pewter City on a pokémon journey never came up in our conversations…" he said after a short silence, "She probably thinks that Jake is here in the city. She might have gone to his parents' old house."

"Do you know where that is?"

Jacob shook his head. "No… When Jake and I met 6 years ago he was already living in that old inn…"

"It looks like we have no choice but to wait for her to call you again." said Melanie. Jacob silently nodded. "Where did Jake ask us to meet him again?" Unlike her Jacob knew Pewter City quite well, so she was pretty much relying on him to lead the way.

Jacob came to a stop and looked around, thinking. "He said he'd be here, in this street. I don't see him, though."

"Well… I'm sure he'll be here soon." said Melanie hopefully. While she knew that Jake was quite angry at Jacob she also knew that he wanted to get his sister's journal back.

"Hopefully." said Jacob as he sat down on a bench.

For a while they just sat there without saying anything but eventually Melanie began to get bored, which was only natural. "I'm bored!" she exclaimed eventually, her legs swaying back and forth.

"I can tell, but this is important." said Jacob with a sigh. Melanie let out a sigh of boredom. "Why don't you cuddle your Caterpie or something?"

"I can't, he's a Metapod now."

_Dang it, I completely forgot._ "You have a Charmander, don't you?"

"Oh yeah, I do!" said Melanie with a giggle. After a minute or two she got bored of _that_ as well. "Hey, hey! Jacob!"

Jacob sighed. "What?"

"Let's play a game!" Jacob facepalmed. "Rock, paper scissors! Go!"

"No."

Melanie frowned. "You're a real party pooper."

"…"

"Hey, hey!"

"Ugh… what?"

"Yesterday you told me that you've had plenty of stupid ideas." said Melanie with a giggle. "Would you mind giving me an example?"

"Um… Why?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow.

"Because it sounds funny!" said Melanie, giggling once more. Her Charmander also seemed quite interested in hearing what Jacob might say.

"Um… Okay, I have a good one." Telling Melanie embarrassing stories about himself was probably not a very smart idea, but anything would be better than playing 'rock, paper scissors' with her. "It was about two months before you and I got our starter pokémon from. That was way before my father had arranged everything with a professor, so I didn't know that I would be getting one to begin with. Anyways I was really desperate to get a pokémon of my own, and I was walking through the Viridian forest one way when I saw a Weedle that was asleep."

"Go on." said Melanie, looking quite interested. At least she didn't want to play 'rock, paper scissors' anymore. "What happened?"

"I was chased out and stung." said Jacob after a short silence. "…By a group of Beedrill."

Melanie broke into laughter. "Oh man, that _is_ a good one!" Jacob said nothing. He wasn't that concerned, because with all that was probably going to happen as soon as Jake showed up Melanie would most likely forget what he had just told her. "I wish I had a picture of your swollen face!"

Jacob was about to say something but decided against it. Perhaps telling Melanie that Jake had in fact taken a picture of his swollen face would be a bad idea, even if he did believe that she wouldn't remember him telling her that. "Hey, listen, I'm going to go to the pokémon center for a moment. Would you mind waiting here in case Jake shows up?"

"Okay." said Melanie with a nod after finally managing to stop laughing. "Wait, where is the pokémon center? You know, in case he shows up before you come back."

Jacob pointed to their left. "In order to get to the pokémon center you need to go that way and take the second turn to the right. You won't miss it."

"Okay." Jacob left. "Bye bye!" With Jacob gone she soon found herself even more bored than before. She looked at her Charmander, who was still sitting on her lap. "Wanna play 'rock, paper scissors' with me?"

"_Charmander?_" the little pokémon gave his trainer a confused expression. Obviously he had no idea what 'rock, paper scissors' was. After explaining the rules to him Melanie realized that Charmander might not be the perfect partner to play 'rock, paper scissors' with. Sure, he understood the rules quite easily, but his talons weren't functional like fingers and he could not bend them. Therefore, no matter what he did, it always looked like paper.

"Ooh, this isn't going to work!" whined the brunette, causing a sad expression to appear on her pokémon's face. She chuckled. "Oh, don't worry about it! You're still super-duper cute!" When she raised her gaze from the content-looking pokémon she saw a Hippowdon standing right in front of her. "Eeeeeeeep!" She jumped to her feet, looking quite startled. Upon realizing that she still had Charmander in her arms she defensively held him out in front of the ground-type pokémon. "Quickly! Do something powerful or intimidating!" All Charmander did was let out a pathetic sounding whimper. The Hippowdon let out a loud hum, causing Melanie to let out another squeak and hide behind the bench.

To her surprise, however, the pokémon turned around. After a short moment of confusion she realized that there was someone calling the pokémon's name. "Hippowdon!" Melanie stood up, but she could not see the trainer because he / she were standing behind the pokémon. "What are you doing? We don't have time to mess around like this." Then the speaker, a not so tall figure, appeared from behind the ground-type pokémon. However Melanie could not see her face because the woman was wearing hood over her head. "You must excuse Hippowdon," said the woman, who sounded elderly, to Melanie, "it's very rarely that she approaches random trainers. She only does that when she finds them interesting."

"Oh! Um, that's okay… I'm flattered, I guess." She giggled.

"What's the matter?" asked the woman upon hearing her giggle.

"Well, your hood is funny…" said Melanie with another giggle, "Why wear a hood on such a hot day?" She could not see the woman's face fully, but she could tell that she was grinning.

"You say that to an older person who has such a large pokémon with them! You're quite the adorable trainer, but you've also got a spine." The woman chuckled and then turned to leave. "Let's go, Hippowdon."

"Wait a sec!" said Melanie as she walked up to the woman, who so far looked like quite a nice person. "You really should consider taking that hood off! I heard the sunshine does the skin good!"

"Really, I'd rather not." said the woman defensively.

"Oh come on! Just give it a try!" Without really asking for permission she reached out and removed the hood from the woman's head.

"W-what are you doing?!" asked Bertha with a worried expression as she quickly placed the hood back on her head, however Melanie did manage to get a glimpse of her face.

The brunette let out a gasp. "Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod! You're Bertha!" she exclaimed, hopping excitedly.

"Quiet!" said Bertha worriedly, looking around to see whether anybody else had recognized her. "The point of this hood is to not get recognized! The last thing I need is the media finding out that I'm here!" She sighed and looked at Melanie. "You can't tell anyone. What is it that you want? An autograph? I can even let you ride Hippowdon if you promise to act like you never saw me here."

"Oh, I don't want any of those." said Melanie, still looking quite excited. Running straight into Bertha (or Bertha running straight into her) was the last thing she had expected.

"Then, if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way. I'm in a little bit of a hurry."

"Wait a sec!" said Melanie as Bertha began to walk away, following her.

"I really do not want to sound rude, but I don't have time to fool around." said Bertha with some annoyance in her tone.

Melanie came to a stop. How was she going to convince Bertha to stay and listen to her; a complete stranger? "I know why you're here!" she exclaimed eventually, not knowing what else to say.

That certainly got Bertha's attention. The Sinnoh Elite Four member came to a stop and turned around, looking Melanie straight in the eye. "What are you talking about?" Her confused expression was an indication that she was all ears.

"You're looking for Jacob, right? The boy you spoken to on the phone?" asked Melanie, a little more timidly. _If this won't convince her to listen to me,_ thought Melanie, _I don't know what will_.

"You know him?" asked Bertha, obviously confused. She was starting to worry that Jacob might have told a lot of people that she was coming to Kanto, which would obviously make her whole goal of sneaking around even more difficult.

"Yes! Um…" perhaps she should stop raising her voice so often. "Yes ma'am, I do. I know Jake, too. I met him less than two weeks ago."

Bertha slowly walked closer to Melanie before coming to a stop in front of her and looking at her Hippowdon. "I guess that explains Hippowdon's interest in you." said she with a slight smile. "Our pokémon are a lot smarter than we think they are." She looked at Melanie again. "Where's my nephew?"

"Well, um…" stuttered the brunette, nervously fiddling with her own fingers, "I don't know. Jacob and I haven't seen him since yesterday. But, um, we're supposed to meet him here!"

"And where's Jacob?"

"Oh! He went to a pokémon center." She then thought carefully, trying to recall what Jacob had said to her when she had asked him where the pokémon center was. "Uh… second turn to the right… Okay, it's this way!" Melanie led the way and eventually took the second turn to the right like Jacob had instructed.

She could then see the pokémon center ahead of her, but it wasn't the pokémon center that had her attention. Jake and Jacob were standing next to the pokémon center and talking, and Jacob handed what appeared to be Emily's diary to him. Jake didn't look as angry as he had looked during his phone talk with Jacob yesterday, but he didn't look too happy either. His Charmander was sitting on his shoulder with a rather troubled expression on her face. He took the notebook from Jacob and was about to walk away, but that was when Bertha came around the corner and saw him.

Jake and Jacob both froze as they heard her call out to him in disbelief. They each looked at her for exactly one moment before looking at each other again. Jake was giving Jacob such a glare that it sent a shiver down Jacob's spine. "Uh…" Jacob stuttered with a nervous smile on his face. Bertha and Melanie were a little far away so they couldn't hear them. "Um… This isn't what it looks like?" He chuckled nervously. Jake continued to glare at him, and Jacob knew that this was, in one way or another, _exactly_ what it looked like.

**A/N: Took me a bit longer than a week again, but my last exam is on Thursday ^^**


	25. A Tight Grip

So not only was Jacob 99% sure that Jake was going to brutally murder him, but the "bright" side about that very awkward situation was that he hadn't even seen it coming. Like Melanie before him the last thing he thought would happen was that either of them would run straight into Bertha. In fact they hadn't even thought that she was already in Kanto, and regardless of that the odds of being at one spot at the exact same moment a certain person was there were never too high to begin with.

Even though Bertha was currently running towards them (as fast as a woman her age could run), with Melanie nervously following her as well as Bertha's Hippowdon, Jake was still looking at Jacob with such a glare that Jacob was starting to regret not being born as an Abra. Had he been born an Abra he would have been able to just teleport away to safety, even if he did know that it wouldn't have helped because Jake would have even wasted a Master Ball in order to get his hands on him.

Since Bertha couldn't run very fast it naturally wasn't very hard for Melanie or Hippowdon to keep up with her (despite the pokémon's size and weight and despite Melanie's lingering fear that Hippowdon might decide to eat her for breakfast). Jake kept his gaze fixed on Jacob the entire time, only looking at Bertha in the corner of his eye after she had arrived next to him and Jacob.

It has obviously been a long time since the last time Bertha had seen her niece's son. Regardless of that she had easily recognized him from a distance before coming over to where he was. Despite how happy she was to find out that he was alive she was also quite confused. Her nephew didn't seem as happy to see her as she was to see him. In fact there was something about the way he was looking at her that made her feel like she wasn't wanted there at all.

"I can't believe it's really you!" she eventually said despite her confusion. Her nephew continued to say nothing, and when she reached out with a hand to touch his face (as if to verify that he wasn't an illusion) he stopped her by grabbing her arm. In fact his hand was so quick in stopping hers that she didn't even notice what he was doing until he had fully wrapped his hand around her wrist. But he didn't just hold her by the wrist; he held her by the wrist with a _very_ tight grip.

"Hey, there she is!"

The four trainers turned their heads in the direction of the voice, and what they saw was a horde of paparazzi photographers that was making its way towards them. They must have come there looking for Bertha, but she didn't have any idea how the media had found out that she was in Kanto to begin with. She hasn't told a single person where she was going, not even Cynthia or the other members of the Sinnoh Elite Four (even though she did trust them and considered them to be her closest friends), which was the main reason why she hadn't expected the media to find out that she was in Kanto _that_ quickly.

Before any of them had enough time to realize what exactly was going on they were surrounded and blinded by the flashes of the cameras. Bertha couldn't see anything but soon the feeling of Jake's grip around her wrist disappeared and, after the flashes of the cameras became a little less frequent, she opened her eyes and saw that he was no longer there. He must have elbowed his way through the crowd of photographers and left. All the while the paparazzi kept asking her questions like "why are you here in Kanto?" or "was the boy you were talking to on the phone the other day telling the truth?"

Bertha was obviously quite shocked upon hearing the 2nd question, and a quick question on her part soon revealed that a paparazzi photographer just happened to be outside her window while she was talking to Jacob on the phone for the first time. This was obviously infuriating but there wasn't anything she could do about it now. It should have been mentioned earlier that Bertha detested paparazzi photographers in every possible way, and the fact that she was surrounded by a large group of them as they kept taking pictures and asking her questions she did not want to answer was obviously quite unnerving.

Hippowdon, sensing her trainer's distress, opened her mouth and let out a loud roar. This silenced the photographers as well as made them take a few steps backwards. After all Hippowdon was about 2 meters tall, and they didn't want to make a pokémon that was that big even angrier than it already was. There was a short silence but after a few moments the paparazzi photographers once again began asking their provoking questions; however this time they made sure to keep their distance from Bertha, Hippowdon and Hippowdon's large set of teeth.

Bertha eventually couldn't take it anymore, and she was about to just climb onto Hippowdon's back and ride as far away as she possible could when a different voice got everyone's attention. They all looked up and saw none other than Cynthia herself, who was sitting on top of her Togekiss. "Bertha, come quickly!" she said, looking as if something horrible had happened. "Flint and Aaron are completely drunk and they look like they're about to beat the living hell out of each other!"

There was a short moment of awkward silence after which Cynthia all of a sudden looked at all the paparazzi photographers with a surprised look on her face, as if only now noticing that they were there. "Oops! I probably shouldn't have said that!" she said with an innocent expression on her face. "I just hope that none of you will go to that bar all the way on the _other side of the city_ and take embarrassing pictures!"

The paparazzi photographers looked at each other. Two Elite Four members drunk and beating each other up in the middle of the day (and not in their own region, too) sounded much more promising. It didn't take too long for all of them to run off away from the scene in order to probably search every single bar in existence within the territory of Pewter City. Cynthia watched them run off and, after they were all gone, began snickering and told her Togekiss to land. "Idiots." she said with another chuckle as she dismounted her Togekiss and returned the dual flying-normal-type into a pokéball.

She looked at Jacob and Melanie, who looked as if they had seen a ghost, before turning around and calling out. "Hey, you guys can come out now!"

Lucian, Aaron and Flint all came out from one of the alleyways. "That was a brilliant idea." said Flint. "No really! Like… totally on fire!"

"I can't believe they didn't realize you were faking it." said Aaron with a grin.

"I do." said Lucian with a bored expression. "If people like them read a good book every now and then they wouldn't fall for such trickery."

"You all came?" asked Bertha, a surprised look on her face. For obvious reasons seeing them there was the last thing she expected.

"Of course we did." said Cynthia with a look of genuine concern on her face.

"But… How did you know I was here?"

"I figured it out quite quickly." said Lucian before pointing at Jacob. "I knew that you talked to him since I was the one who gave you his number, so it wasn't that hard to realize that you came here."

"Oh, by the way," said Cynthia, placing a hand on Bertha's shoulder, "Dawn said that she's very sorry and that she couldn't come because Sinnoh League Tournament will start this evening, and she has to be there in order to take on the challenger who wins it once it's over."

"Oh, she's such a sweet girl…" said Bertha with a faint smile on her face, "It's okay, really. I should call her later and wish her good luck…" The smile soon disappeared from her face as she suddenly remembered what had happened just before all the photographers showed up. She just couldn't stop thinking about that cold stare he had given her, not to mention the way in which he had held her by the wrist. She hadn't said anything to him back then, but his grip was had actually hurt her arm a little.

"Is everything alright?" asked Aaron after a short silence. "You seem a little removed." He, Cynthia and the other Elite Four members knew more than well how uncomfortable Bertha could get around photographers, but she would normally return to her usual, cheery self after they were gone. So, naturally, he and the others were quite confused to see how upset she still was.

Well _they_ were confused, but Jacob and Melanie knew exactly why she looked so distressed. However Jacob appeared to be the only one who was concerned by this; Melanie looked like she was about to explode from excitement about the fact that all of Sinnoh's Elite Four members _and_ Sinnoh's former Pokémon League Champion were right in front of her eyes. Yes, this wasn't the best time to get into 'crazy fan girl mode', but like I mentioned before Melanie has always had a tendency to get sidetracked easily.

Bertha would have answered Aaron's question, but she was so busy trying to figure out what in the world was going on that she hadn't even heard him to begin with. Her nephew's reaction to seeing her was definitely not the one she had expected. "So, where's your nephew?" asked Flint, "Have you run into him yet?" Bertha continued to say nothing and, after a short silence, Cynthia, Aaron, Flint and Lucian all looked at Jacob and Melanie, obviously wanting an explanation.

Jacob sighed, realizing that there was no point in hiding any details regarding what had happened from them, and was about to begin explaining everything when Melanie finally lost control of herself. "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!" Jacob sighed and facepalmed. One thing he did know: that it would be a good idea to not stay in the middle of the street. The paparazzi may have left, but it wouldn't take too long until attention was drawn to them again. Luckily Jacob knew that his father was out of town so he went ahead and asked them all to come to his house. At first they found the young trainer's offer to be quite pointless, but they were soon told why he had made that proposition and couldn't help but agree with him.

Once they were there Jacob went ahead and gave Cynthia and Lucian a brief recap of Jake's behavior during the last couple of days as well as of his reaction when Bertha had approached him earlier that day. Bertha was currently sitting on the couch, deep in her own thoughts, and Flint and Aaron were busy keeping Melanie occupied. The energetic brunette was currently showing them her Metapod and Charmander, making sure to make many remarks on how cute they were and other things of the sort. It was a good thing that Melanie didn't have a psychic-type pokémon and a Gible in her party, because if she did then Jacob wouldn't have anybody to talk to (literally). In fact Melanie would have most likely also shown her Onix to Bertha if doing that didn't mean causing Jacob's house to collapse.

Of course, Lucian and Cynthia found Jacob's account to be quite peculiar and absurd. The way Jacob had described everything, it seemed like having Bertha there was pretty much the last thing her nephew wanted.

"That's ridiculous!" said Cynthia at one point. "Why on earth would he _not_ be happy to see her if he hadn't seen her for 7 years?"

Jacob shook his head. "I don't have a single clue." he said, "Jake refused to tell me anything."

"Well, then I guess the only thing we can do is look for him and demand an answer." said Cynthia decisively after a short silence.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Lucian calmly. "If he hasn't said anything about this to his friend, what makes you think he'll tell you, me or anybody else he doesn't know?"

"I don't know." said Cynthia. "If you have a better suggestion I'll be happy to hear it."

_Later, in the evening_

"No way! Hey, Charmander, look at all these TMs!" said Jake, who was currently sitting in a coffee house and looking through a catalogue containing information about pretty much every Technical Machine in existence. "You can order almost all of them by phone call! Isn't that cool?" There were a few TMs which weren't purchasable through the store that had published the catalogue (one of them being the one that was given to him by Erika after their battle a few days ago), but there was still information about those TMs nonetheless.

Charmander made no response and continued staring down at her empty food plate. This has probably been the only time where she didn't care about the fact that Dratini had literally devoured her food, because like the 2 other fire-type pokémon in her trainer's party she wasn't in the mood to eat anything. It seemed very awkward to all 3 pokémon that their trainer was even able to think about Technical Machines at a time like this. "Hey, Vulpix," he said after a short silence, "apparently you're one of the very few non-legendary-fire-type pokémon that can learn a grass-type move that is called Energy Ball." The way Charmander saw it he was just trying to distract himself from thinking about what had happened earlier that day. On one hand (or paw or whatever it is a Charmander has) she couldn't blame him, but on the other she kept hoping that he will eventually deal with all of this.

Vulpix made no response but her trainer didn't seem to have noticed their gloomy expressions, or maybe he did notice and was just pretending because he knew what was on his pokémon's minds. After a while Jake's Xtransceiver then began ringing, causing him to close the catalogue with a groan of annoyance and throw it directly into the open trash can that stood in the corner of the coffee house. "Dammit! This is his entire fault!" He took in a deep breath to calm himself down before looking at the screen of his Xtransceiver, expecting to see Jacob's or Melanie's number displayed on it.

"Erika?" he asked quietly with a raised eyebrow as he realized that the grass-type Gym Leader was actually the one calling him. He plugged a set of earphones to the phone-watch (since he was, after all, sitting in the middle of a coffee house) before putting on the calmest facial expression he could and picking up the call. "Hello?"

"_Hello? Jake? This is Erika._" said the Gym Leader, who was wearing her usual kimono. From the looks of it she wasn't inside the Celadon Gym, seeing how there were no trees or flowers behind her, but that made sense because a Pokémon Gym probably closes for the night at a certain hour.

"Hey." said Jake, still trying to figure out why Erika had called him to begin with. Maybe she wanted to tell him something regarding all the stolen pokémon that had been retrieved from Team Plasma's base in Celadon City? "What's up?"

"_Is everything… you know… alright?_" she asked after a short silence, much to his surprise.

It was only then that he noticed that Erika had a trouble expression on her face, as if something was bothering her. "Uh… yeah, everything's fine. Why?" People usually didn't call and ask whether everything was fine unless they had a reason to, but he couldn't think of anything that might have given Erika a reason to believe that something was wrong (not that she was mistaken).

"_Well…"_ she paused, not sure of how to say what she had to say, "_You see… I got a call from Jasmine a few minutes ago and…_"

"From Jasmine?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. With everything that's been going on around him lately he hadn't thought about her much. "Jasmine called you and asked about me?" For some reason this brought a smile to his face; he was quite glad to find out that she had called Erika in order to ask whether he was alright, but it still made him naturally confused. "Well, what made her and / or you think that anything's wrong?"

"_Uh… How do I say this?_" Erika paused and thought for a very long moment before sighing in defeat. "_I guess I'll just repeat what she said to me…_"

"And what did she say?"

"_That you and your… supposed 'great-aunt' are on TV._"

"…" Jake stared at Erika's image on the screen of his Xtransceiver for a long moment before raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"_It's true._" said Erika quietly. "_The 'Pokémon Celebrities' channel is flooded with pictures of both of you. Apparently Bertha's in Pewter City, and some paparazzi photographers claim that the reason she is now there is because she believes that her niece's son is alive. Well… Everybody thinks it's you after seeing the two of you together._"

Jake was quiet for a while until one of the waiters passed by his table. There was a TV in the coffee house so he asked the waiter to come over. "Can you please switch the channel to the 'Pokémon Celebrities' channel please?" The waiter nodded and left.

"_Um…_" said Erika, causing Jake to look back at the screen of his Xtransceiver, "_Jasmine said that you looked quite upset in the pictures that they're showing there, so she wanted to know whether everything's fine._"

Jake smiled a faint smile. "Tell her that I'm okay. Thanks for calling, both of you. I need to go."

"_Wait!_"

"What is it?"

"_Is it true?_" asked Erika, after a short moment of hesitation.

Jake sighed. "Yeah." She was about to say something else (probably to ask why he was so upset about something that should make him happy) but he stopped her. "I'd really rather not talk about it."

"_Okay._" said Erika, "_I won't force you to talk._"

"I really have to go. Thanks again for calling." After hanging up the call Jake frowned and looked at the TV. The waiter changed the channel like Jake had asked him to, and he soon saw that Erika and Jasmine were right. He quickly called one of the waiters again in order to pay for what he had ordered so that he could leave. However, when he finally received his change, he realized that every single person in the coffee house was looking at him because they had all spent the last half a minute looking at the 'Pokémon Celebrities' channel, which was still being displayed on the screen of the TV.

"Of course…" he said to himself with a sigh of annoyance as everyone began to crowd around him. It was obvious (with his luck) that something like this was going to happen after less than a minute of the TV being open.

**A/N: Sorry for the delay on this chapter. ._.**

**I have something to say that will most likely make you all very ashamed in me… I began watching the 'Best Wishes' series of the Pokémon Anime. I guess it's mainly because I'm bored. I have a few things to say about it:**

**Oshawott and Axew are super cute and I now support any pairing between Oshawott and its evolutionary line to Snivy and its evolutionary line even more than I did before.**

**Iris disrespects Ash in every way so I like her.**

**Cilan amuses me.**

**Bianca amuses me even more.**

**Trip should die.**

**Ash is still an idiot.**

**This doesn't change what I said at the end of the first chapter; that this story will not have any anime characters or references other than references to the plot of the 2nd movie (unless I say otherwise, but I probably won't).**

**Don't think that this chapter came out a little late because I've been watching the anime though. I know that I had already finished with my exams but I didn't have much time to write for the past few days because of a personal reason.**

**BTW this story has more than 40 followers, which is really awesome! Thanks for reading and I'll be happy to see reviews from more of you. Also, if you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them.**


	26. Missing

**A/N: I was away on Wednesday and Thursday so I had naturally planned to upload this on Tuesday. However Microsoft Word crashed for some reason and I ended up losing almost half a chapter. As a result of that I didn't have time to upload it on Tuesday, so I'm uploading it now.**

So it eventually turned out that, while he was right by saying that Cynthia's idea wasn't a very good one, Lucian didn't really have an idea of his own on how they should deal with this. Not only did they not know what they should do; they also had no idea where to find Bertha's nephew to begin with, and finding him was obviously the first thing they had to do before doing anything else. While Cynthia and the other members of the Sinnoh Elite Four other than Bertha had never been to Pewter City even once before that day they already got the impression that Pewter City was a pretty big place. It looked like finding anybody there was going to be a rather difficult task, not to mention that the odds Jake had already left the city were pretty high.

"Gee, this sure looks bad." said Aaron at some point as they all sat in the living room and looked at the TV where pictures of Jake and Bertha were still being displayed. It was already evening, and to the relief of Flint as well as himself Melanie had already calmed down. Neither one of the two of them has ever had a problem with fans, even with the crazier and weirder fans, but there was a time and place for everything. Right now there were more important things that needed to be dealt with.

"People like them could really use a hobby." said Lucian with a sigh, referring to the paparazzi photographers. He probably wasn't the first one to say that paparazzi photographers seemed like people who were just bored out of their minds and had nothing better to do than to follow celebrities around and invade their privacy, but that didn't change the fact that he thought it was true. "I'd recommend either reading or pokémon training."

"What I still can't understand," said Cynthia, looking at Jacob, "is why you're friend is acting like this." She looked at the TV for a moment and then back at the young trainer in front of her. "He looks annoyed and even angry in the photos those _leeches_ are showing on TV."

"Well, you can remove the word 'annoyed' now…" said Jacob with a sigh. He knew that, if Jake wasn't already angry, he would be quite angry once he found out that he was on TV and, if he was already angry, that he would be even angrier. One thing Jacob knew for certain was that one of the things Jake appreciated more than anything was being left alone every now and then. So, obviously, appearing on TV as well as being revealed as Bertha's nephew to the public was the complete opposite of that. "He's going to want to strangle me even more than he already does when he finds out about _this_."

"Can you please turn this thing off already?" asked Bertha eventually with obvious annoyance. This was the first thing she had said to them the entire evening. Melanie, who just happened to be the one holding the remote, immediately turned the TV off. The ground-type user of the Sinnoh Elite Four got up with a sigh, holding a hand to her forehead as she did.

"Where are you going?" asked Cynthia with a confused look. On one hand it was a relief to finally hear Bertha say something but on the other what she had just said wasn't exactly an indication that she was feeling any better.

"I don't know."

"Maybe you should go lay down." suggested Cynthia, "You've had a long and stressful day."

"You can use my room if you want." said Jacob, "Go down this hallway; it's the 2nd door to the right." Cynthia silently thanked him with a nod of her head before offering one of her hands to Bertha and leading her down the hallway.

"You know," said Melanie after they were gone, "I'd love to appear on TV." Everybody looked at her with raised eyebrows and confused expressions, causing her to scratch the back of her head nervously. "Under different circumstances, of course!" she added, realizing that what she had just said was a little tactless.

Jacob sighed and also stood up. "Sitting here isn't going to help us at all." he said, looking at Melanie. "You and I should go outside and look around a little. I mean, I know where most of the inns and hotels in Pewter City are. If Jake hasn't left he might be in one of them."

"Don't you think it's going to take a long time to check every single inn and hotel?" asked Melanie, looking quite reluctant about his idea. "I know there probably isn't one around every single corner, but still…"

"It's the only option we have right now." said Jacob, who also knew that his idea wasn't all that great.

"The three of us can help you out." said Flint, referring to Aaron, Lucian and himself. "If you give us some addresses we can also look. We've seen how he looks like on TV."

"That might not be a very good idea." said Lucian, who seemed to know exactly how Jacob was going to respond. "It will be quite hard for us to look if anybody recognizes us. And even if we do find him, he doesn't know us and probably won't listen to complete strangers."

"Yeah, what he said." said Jacob before looking at Melanie again. "So are you coming? I'll give you some of the addresses I remember and then I'll check the other ones myself."

"Alright." said Melanie, realizing that they didn't really have a better option. "Let's go."

_Elsewhere_

It had naturally taken Jake quite a while to leave the coffee house with all those people standing around him, asking him questions and blocking his way. It had also taken him quite a while to shake them off _after_ finally leaving the coffee house. Of course, with his luck, _that_ alerted some of those bored-out-of-their-minds paparazzi photographers, and he had to get rid of them as well. Luckily for him the photographers weren't very familiar with the city as he was, and after maneuvering through some alleyways he managed to lose them. In fact he would have been quite surprised had he found out that some paparazzi photographers knew the location of anything other than the houses of the celebrities they were tormenting by not letting them be.

Unfortunately, after getting away from _those_ photographers, he was seen by another one of those ticks. So he had to get rid of that guy as well. Apparently the red jacket he was wearing was kind of a dead giveaway, so he took it off and shoved it into his backpack. It's true that changing from an unzipped red jacket and a white shirt to just a white shirt wasn't a very drastic change, but he managed to get to an inn without being recognized by anybody else. "It's a good thing these guys aren't very smart." he mumbled to himself after entering the room he had rented for the night and locking the door behind him.

He took off his bag and opened it, taking out his jacket and putting it back on. The four pokéballs containing his pokémon were also inside. Up until that moment he kept them all in their pokéballs so that they wouldn't get lost. Now that he was no longer out in the street, however, there was no reason for him to keep them confined inside the pokéballs. After letting them out Jake walked over to the window in his room and looked out into the street. There were mostly just regular people walking around, but every now and then he saw a photographer running around with a camera in his / her hands.

"Ugh, for the love of god…" He facepalmed and shut the window with a loud slam. After staring at the closed window some more he placed down a few plates filled with pokémon food and water. Even though he had fed his pokémon back at the coffee house he wanted to make sure that there would be some food ready for them in case they needed it in the middle of the night. Dratini, who immediately began eating, was soon picked up by his trainer, who looked at him with a smile and chuckled. "Don't you think you eat a little too much?"

"_Dra!_" The little serpentine dragon squirmed for a few seconds before letting out a yawn and staring at his trainer with his adorable, wide open eyes.

"I don't know whether the fact that you almost eat as much as Charmander, Flareon and Vulpix do combined is cute or just weird…" He couldn't help but chuckle as the baby dragon-type pokémon sneezed. "Well, I guess it's because you're growing up and what not." He gently placed the shiny dragon-type down before raising an eyebrow upon hearing somebody knock on the door. "What?" He walked over to the door and pressed his ear against it, seeing how there was no eyehole in the door.

"Jake, I know you're in here." said Jacob, who was standing on the other side of the door. "Open the door."

Jake sighed and facepalmed. He knew Jacob well enough to know that he wasn't going to leave. He facepalmed once again and unlocked the door, making sure to lock again it after letting Jacob inside. "I hope you're happy with yourself." he said with a frown after having locked the door, sitting down on the bed next to his Dratini and 3 fire-type pokémon. "Now I'm all over the news. I can't even walk on the street without having paparazzi photographers chase me."

"Oh, those pictures are still on TV?" asked Jacob with an expression on surprise on his face. He found it quite awkward that the pictures were still being displayed on that channel. Didn't people have anything better to discuss on a pokémon related channel, like the upcoming next phase of the Sinnoh League? Curious, he took the remote of the small TV that was in the room and turned it on.

Jake facepalmed. "Turn this thing off!"

Jacob, who was quite startled by the way his friend had just raised his voice, nearly ended up dropping the remote. "Sorry." He turned the TV off and put the remote away.

"How did you even find me?" asked Jake, obviously curious.

"I saw you in the street." said Jacob with a shrug. "I recognized your bag from afar."

"So, why are you here?" asked Jake after a short silence, not even bothering to remove his hand from his face.

"Why do you think?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow. He knew that his friend wasn't stupid. "You can't expect me to think that you don't know."

Jake sighed, removing his hand from his face so that he could look at Jacob. "I don't care where she is; I'm not coming with you."

"Oh, come on!"

"I have nothing to say to her." he said, as calmly as before, standing up and walking over to the window.

"Nothing to say to her?!" asked Jacob, unable to believe what he was hearing. "How can you say that? You two haven't seen each other for seven years, and now that she's here you're going to just ignore her?"

"Um… Yes?" said Jake bluntly, still looking out into the street. "Didn't I make it obvious enough?"

"You can't be serious! She's desperate to see you! You can't leave her hanging like that!"

Jake turned around upon hearing the word 'hanging'. For a long moment he simply stared at Jacob, who was still looking at him with an expression of shock and disbelief. The tension was so palpable that one could cut it with a knife. "Leave her hanging?" Jake eventually asked. He sounded calm, but it was a rather unnerving sort of calm (kind of like the calm before the storm).

"Uh…" Jacob rubbed the back of his head nervously and then looked at him again. "Yeah?"

"_I_ can't leave _her_ hanging?!" Dratini, who had up until that moment been peacefully chewing on his own tail, let out a startled squeak and buried his head in Flareon's fur. Jacob, who was starting to consider the option of running away as fast as he possibly could without looking back, became even more confused when Jake began laughing.

"What's funny?" asked Jacob (after a very long hesitation).

"I happen to find what you just said to be very ironic." said Jake, ceasing to laugh altogether and looking at Jacob with a blank expression. "Um… So where were we? Oh yeah… Get out."

"No. I'm not leaving."

"You're not?" asked Jake with a fake look of disappointment. "Oh no… Oh well, people don't always get what they want. Especially you. Bye-bye."

"I'm serious."

"Fine." he said, taking his jacket off and shoving it into his backpack again. "I'll leave." He picked Dratini up in his arms and then looked at his other 3 pokémon. "Come, we're leaving."

"Jake, for the love of god!" Not knowing what else to do, Jacob took the door key out of the keyhole to prevent Jake from unlocking it.

"Give me the key."

"No!" For once Jacob was determined to stand his ground more than anything else. "Listen, I understand that you're mad at me for shoving my nose where it doesn't belong but you and Bertha are still a family! So you need to get over it and go talk to her!"

"How am I supposed to get over Bertha running off to Sinnoh?" Jacob, who had obviously expected a different, angrier response, looked slightly surprised. "She was supposed to hear about what had happened, come back a-and take care of me so that we could live happily ever after. Only that it wouldn't have really been 'happily ever after' because, come on, who the hell am I trying to fool?"

Jacob stared at his friend with a look of shock as he sat down on his bed without saying another word. "Wait…" he said, finally putting the pieces together, "So you're not mad at me, you're mad at Bertha."

"Of course I am mad at Bertha!" said Jake with a shaky sigh, holding Dratini close like his life depended on it. "A 10 years old kid is supposed to go to school and socialize with other kids, Jacob, not to work day and night for a living! I just… Things weren't supposed to turn out this way…"

"Um… Can I say something?" asked Jacob after a long silence. Jake silently nodded. "When I first talked to Bertha and mentioned you she thought I was lying. When she first saw a TV report about what happened to your parents and sister it was mentioned that two adults, a girl and a boy were killed."

Jake's expression remained unchanged, but somehow Jacob was able to tell that he was thinking about it. "Oh, yeah… I remember that boy." He sighed. "We used to be classmates."

"Well, um… She thought that the boy who was mentioned on the news was you… She thought you were dead."

"That's cute." said Jake sarcastically. "What about this thing called a funeral? How about a memorial? You know, the annual occasion?"

"Okay, fine."

"What?" asked Jake, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"You're right." said Jacob with a sigh of defeat, handing the key to his friend. He hadn't imagined that he would end up switching sides, but after finally hearing Jake's reasons for refusing to see his aunt he couldn't help but realize that changing his mind would be impossible (for Jacob, at least). "I'll go tell her that you have no desire to see her and that your decision is final." Regardless of how upset he knew Bertha was he knew that he couldn't force Jake into doing something he didn't want to do, especially when bringing the fact that Jake had a good reason for refusing into consideration. "Do you… do you want me to tell her why?"

Jake, who was still a little surprised, shook his head. "No. If she _really_ doesn't know then I don't see a reason to bother."

"Okay… So what are you planning to do now?"

"I guess I'll spend the night here and try to leave tomorrow." said Jake with a sigh. He was exhausted and, even though he wanted to leave Pewter City as soon as possible, leaving was going to have to wait. "Hopefully I can avoid the paparazzi until this whole thing calms down."

"Would you like it if I came with you?"

"That would be nice."

_Later_

Jake was just about to finally fall asleep when once again somebody knocked on his door. Thinking that it was Jacob again, he unlocked and opened it without really bothering to ask who was outside. It really was Jacob, like Jake had expected, but why did he come back?

"I'm really sorry." said Jacob, causing his friend to raise an eyebrow.

"…What?"

"She forced me."

"…"

"Alright, that's enough of this nonsense." said Cynthia, who was standing in the hallway. She walked past Jacob and entered the room, getting a blank expression from the sleepy-looking trainer who was in it.

Jake yawned. "Who are you?"

Cynthia, who was used to being recognized by almost anybody as well as unaware of Jake's vast lack of knowledge in the pokémon world (especially when it came to famous trainers like Gym Leaders, etc.), was slightly surprised when the teenager in front of her asked her who she was. "My name is Cynthia. I'm a friend of your aunt." Obviously she hadn't reacted well when Jacob had returned to his house earlier and said that Jake didn't want to see his aunt. A few seconds later Aaron, Flint and Lucian also entered the room, which wasn't very big to begin with.

Jake sighed, realizing that it was time for yet another lecture about what he could, couldn't and should do. "That's lovely." It wasn't too difficult to understand that the 3 men who had just entered the room were also Bertha's friends. "Get out." While he hadn't recognized Cynthia by appearance he did remember hearing her name a couple of times.

"Excuse me?" asked Cynthia, raising an eyebrow.

"Wasn't I clear enough?" asked Jake as he sat down on the bed next to his pokémon. They were all awake with the exception of Dratini who was sound asleep. "I think I was. You're wasting your time. I'm sure Bertha will be just fine. She's been fine for 7 years. Now why don't you all go home and take your stupid photographers with you?"

"Look… Jake, is it?" she asked, not getting a response. Obviously the better option would be to try to do things the easy and calm way. "You seem like a reasonable person to me. I'm sure that this whole problem, whatever it is, can be understood and solved if you just come with us and explain your behavior." Jake let out another sigh and leaned his forehead against his hands. Why did everybody have such a hard time realizing why he was so angry? It wasn't that complicated. Realizing that he wasn't going to say anything, Cynthia continued. "Look, I'll make you a deal. We're both pokémon trainers. Let's have a match. If you win we'll leave you be, and if I win you'll come back with us."

Jake looked up at her with a raised eyebrow and a look of disbelief. She wasn't serious, was she? "You're kidding. You're kidding, right?"

"What?"

"Do you really expect me, a trainer who barely knows anything, to take on a… What are you again? A Gym Leader? An Elite Four member?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, um, no!"

Cynthia, who was starting to lose her patience as well as to realize that talking things through wasn't going to work, frowned. "Look, I was trying to be nice, but it looks like the only option you're giving us is to drag you over there by force."

"I'm sure that would do for a juicy article about you." said Jake, who knew more than well that she wasn't going to carry out her threat. "After all, it's illegal. Listen, it's really simple." He stood up. "When a person says no, he means no! So no! Do I have to say no in other languages or is English good enough for you?!"

"Look, maybe you two should just calm down…" said Flint, who was noticing that they were both losing their patience.

"And who the hell are you supposed to be? Ronald McDonald?" Jake obviously had no idea who he was talking to, but at this point knowing probably wouldn't have made a difference. "Just leave me be! All of you! I'm sick of this!"

"Fine, you win." said Cynthia with a look of disappointment on her face as the trainer in front of her turned his back on them, waiting for them all to leave. "I never thought anybody related to Bertha could be so thoughtless, but I guess you can't judge things before looking into them."

"Cynthia!" exclaimed Jacob all of a sudden, getting the attention of her and her friends. "Don't say that!"

"Why not?" asked Cynthia with a raised eyebrow, "It's true."

"I'm thoughtless?" asked Jake, slowly turning around. There was complete silence for a few seconds. Remember the time I said that Jake had only been really, really angry only a few times in his life? Well, this was one of those times. "_I'm_ thoughtless?! Did Bertha say that?!"

Jacob facepalmed. "Oh boy…" Unlike Jacob, who had seen this coming, the others looked slightly taken aback by the enraged expression on his face.

"Take me to her." he eventually said, after a long pause. He sounded calm all of a sudden, but they could all tell that he wouldn't stay that way for long if they didn't do as they were told. So they all went back to Jacob's house, somehow not encountering any paparazzi on the way. Jacob unlocked the door and they all went inside. "Where is she?" Jacob pointed in the direction of his room and Jake walked angrily towards the door, followed by his 3 fire-type pokémon (who looked quite worried). "I'm thoughtless? I'll tell her who's thoughtless!"

He opened the door before his expression of anger was replaced by a look of confusion. "What the hell? Is this some kind of a joke?!" he asked, looking at the others.

"What is it?" asked Jacob. He and the others were in the living room so they had no idea what Jake was talking about.

"She's not here."


	27. Missing (2)

"She's not here."

"What do you mean 'she's not here'?" asked Cynthia with a frown as she and the others made their way over.

"I mean that she's not here." said the still-annoyed teenager as they all came to a stop by the door and saw that there really was no one inside Jacob's room. Not only was the room empty; it also looked like a burglar had been there because it was a complete mess. The bed was untidy, the cupboard's contents were spilled everywhere, the windows were wide open and a few things were either torn or broken. "It's as simple as it sounds."

"Was there a stampede here?" asked Flint with a raised eyebrow as they all entered the room.

"What in the world happened to my room?!" asked Jacob with his mouth wide open.

"Could Bertha have done this?" asked Lucian with an expression of disbelief.

"No way." said Aaron. "Have you ever seen Bertha angry?" he asked, looking at Lucian.

"No." replied the Psychic-type Master as he shook his head.

"Me neither."

"Maybe she's somewhere else in the house." said Jake, taking everybody by surprise. "Let's take a look." Was he suddenly concerned about Bertha or was this all because he just wanted to give her a piece of his mind?

They all searched the house, but Bertha was nowhere to be found. The fact that, with the exception of poor Jacob's room, the house appeared to be in a perfectly normal condition was what made the entire situation even more peculiar that it already was. It was only Jacob's room that looked like it had been robbed. After looking around for a couple of minutes they regrouped inside Jacob's room again. "Where could Bertha have gone to?" asked Cynthia with a confused look on her face. "The door was locked when we came in a few minutes ago, wasn't it?" she looked at Jacob, who nodded in approval. "Is there a back door?" Jacob shook his head.

"The only reasonable explanation would be the windows." said Lucian, pointing at the open windows in Jacob's room. Jacob's house was a private one and his room was located on the first floor. It didn't seem very likely that a woman as old as Bertha would climb out a window and disappear, but like Lucian had just stated it was the only reasonable explanation. "She might have climbed out and left because the door was locked."

"That doesn't explain why my room looks like this." said Jacob, who was still in some sort of a state of shock.

"Indeed, it does not." said Lucian with a thoughtful expression.

Cynthia took out a cell phone from the pocket of her black jacket and dialed Bertha's number into it. The others were completely silent, and it was so quiet that they were actually able to hear the ringing sound regardless of the fact that Cynthia hadn't put her phone on speaker mode. A few moments passed and Bertha didn't answer the call, causing Cynthia to let out a sigh of concern and put the cell phone back in her pocket. "I don't understand this."

"I know that you forced me to show you where Jake was," said Jacob after a short silence, "but why did all 4 of you have to come with me?"

"Well… By the time you came back Bertha had already fallen asleep…" said Cynthia after a short hesitation.

"He's right." said Lucian with a sigh. "One of us should have remained behind, even if there really hadn't been any reason for us to worry that something bad might happen."

Jake knew that what he was about to ask probably won't be of any importance at all, but he couldn't help but wonder whether he should bring it up or not. "Where's Melanie?" He looked at Jacob, "She was with you earlier today, wasn't she?"

"That's right!" said Jacob. "We each went a separate way to look for you earlier this evening. Now that you've mentioned it I haven't heard from her since then and it's already way past midnight..." He looked at Cynthia and the others. "Did she happen to come back and leave again before I returned?"

"No." said Aaron as they all shook their heads. Jacob opened his Xtransceiver and began to dial Melanie's number. "Do you think she might know something?"

"If something bad happened and Melanie noticed it," explained Jacob, "then it's possible that it stressed her out to the point where she didn't even remember the basic option of giving us a call. I know it sounds unlikely, but she can get distracted very easily sometimes." There was a short pause as he finished dialing the number and pressed the dial button. "Then again the more likely possibility is that she's still looking for Jake somewhere and doesn't even know that Bertha is missing. Either way, calling her is the best option we have right now."

Not a single one of the trainers in front of him seemed to seriously think that Melanie knew anything useful (in all honesty he didn't either) but they all couldn't help but agree that they really didn't have a better option at the moment and that giving Melanie a call was worth a shot. After a waiting period which seemed very long to all of them but actually lasted a few seconds, the brunette in question picked up the call. However the way she appeared on the screen of Jacob's Xtransceiver was quite concerning: she looked quite startled, she was sweating and breathing heavily and they could tell that her hair was messy despite the fact that she was wearing her hat.

"Melanie?" asked Jacob after a few moments of waiting for her to say anything. It looked like she was looking around for something. "Hey, this is Jacob. Where are you?"

"_I don't even know!_" she exclaimed with despair, looking around once again. It was really dark wherever she was, so they weren't able to see any details of her surroundings. "_I got lost!_"

"What are you talking about? Where are you?"

"_If I knew where I was I wouldn't be lost!_" She seemed more concerned than angry though, despite the frown on her face.

"Try to calm down." said Jacob calmly; knowing more than well that beginning to argue with Melanie when she looked so upset was a bad idea. "Could you tell us what happened? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"_I…_" she stuttered for a few seconds, "_I didn't find Jake anywhere, so I went back to your house… B-but the door was locked…_"

"She probably came back after we were gone." remarked Flint.

"_So I decided to wait until you all came back, but then I heard a commotion coming from inside the house…"_

"Have you seen Bertha leave the house?" asked Cynthia all of a sudden, interrupting her. "Where did she go?"

"_She didn't go anywhere! They took her!"_

"What are you talking about?" asked Jake, a frown on his face, "Who took her?"

"_Team Plasma! I went around to the back of the house in order to try and look in through one of the windows and three of them ran past me! One of them had her tied up; they must have broken in while she was asleep, I… I've been running after them for the past 20 minutes and I tried calling out for help but I haven't been able to wake up anybody! I lost them and I don't know what to do!_" At this point she stopped talking and burst into tears. "_This all my fault!_"

"Calm down," said Jacob, as reassuringly as he could, "this is not your fault."

"Could you try describing where you are?" asked Cynthia, who was already getting ready to release her Togekiss and fly in her direction.

"_I think I'm-_" she paused and looked around. "_What was that noise?_" A growl was emitted by something next to her, probably her Onix. After a few seconds of complete silence she looked back at her own Xtransceiver. "_I-_" She was cut short when her Onix let out a roar of pain and fainted behind her with a loud thud. "_Onix!_"

"Melanie, what's going on over there?!"

"_No! Get away from me!_" It looked like she was about to say something else but the call ended.

"This is really bad." said Cynthia, looking around at everybody else.

"You can say that again." said Lucian.

"What are we going to do?" asked Aaron.

"Any ideas?" asked Flint. "I've got nothing. They could be anywhere in Pewter City or even out of Pewter City."

"We better tell the police!" said Jacob.

"There's no time for that. If we want to find Bertha and Melanie we'll have a better chance if we start looking right away." said Cynthia. "Team Plasma couldn't have gone too far." She looked at Flint, Aaron and Lucian. "We can take them on."

"But where should we search first?" asked Jacob. He looked at Jake, or at least at the spot where Jake last stood, and saw that he was gone. Charmander, Flareon and Vulpix were also gone. "Darn it…" he facepalmed, "He's not planning to look for Bertha on his own, is he?"

_Outside, in the street_

"Where could these bastards have gone to?" muttered Jake quietly to himself as he and his pokémon came to a stop after walking some distance away from Jacob's house. Knowing that time was precious, he had left the house as soon as the call with Melanie had ended. According to her, Team Plasma could be pretty much anywhere. One thing was for sure: he had experienced the feeling of losing everything 7 years ago and he wasn't going to let it happen again. "Wherever they are, we won't be able to find them if we goof around like this. Come on." As much as he was angry with his aunt, and had every right to be, deep inside he was obviously happy that she was alive.

"Jake! Wait up!" Jake came to a halt once again. He turned around and saw Jacob, Cynthia, Lucian, Flint and Aaron running in his direction.

"I know you want to find her," said Cynthia, "but going on your own is _not_ a good idea." There was a short silence. "We should split into groups of two in order to search faster." She looked at Jake and Jacob, who looked as if they wanted to go together. "Don't be offended, but there's no telling how many of them might show up at any given moment. The two of you shouldn't be on the same group; one of us better go with each of you."

Jake sighed. That same feeling of helplessness which he had experienced back at the daycare in Cerulean City before Misty showed up was now coming back with full force. He wished that it weren't so, but he knew that Cynthia was right. "Okay." As much as he would feel more comfortable if he went with Jacob, it really was a better idea for him and Jacob to go with either Cynthia or one of the Elite Four, just to be on the safe side. "Where should we search first, then?"

"I don't know about the rest of you," said Cynthia, "but it wasn't very easy to get hints as to where Melanie might be through the video call. I think one group should check the Viridian Forest, the second should check the route that leads to Mt. Moon and the third group should remain in the city."

"Looking for them in the city will obviously be the more difficult task of the three." stated Lucian. "Then again, the other two groups can help once they're done scanning their areas. Surely checking the Viridian Forest or the route that leads to Mt. Moon will take less time, and we want to make sure that Team Plasma isn't hiding somewhere outside of the city."

"Exactly." said Cynthia with a nod of her head. "We should also be very careful. Team Plasma doesn't play fair, and we don't want to end up letting them take us by surprise."

"This whole thing would have been much less complicated had Melanie managed to tell us where she was." said Flint with a look of concern.

"But she hadn't, and we have to work with what we've got." said Jake. "I'm going to search all night if it proves necessary. Now, somebody pick a number from 1 to 4."

"What for?" asked Cynthia with a raised eyebrow.

"Just do it."

"Um… 1?"

Jake then looked at Aaron with a smile and gave him a thumb up. "Congratulations, you're the lucky trainer to get stuck with me until this is over."

"That's one way to do it, I guess." said Lucian with a shrug. "Where will you two go?"

"I know the Viridian Forest like the back of my hand." Jake looked at Charmander, who gave a nod of approval and hopped onto his shoulders. "Let's get moving."

"Okay. Jacob, you'll go with me." said Cynthia before looking at the other 4 trainers in front of her. "If any of you guys find them make sure to give us a call and tell us where they are before doing anything."

"Yes sir!" said Jake with a snicker and a two-finger salute, ignoring the glare Cynthia shot in his direction. "Aaron, right?" he looked at Aaron, who nodded. "Are you ready to go?"

"Sure thing." said the Bug-type Master with a nod of his head as he and Jake began making their way towards the Viridian Forest. Meanwhile, behind them, Lucian and Flint offered to be the ones to check the area between Pewter City and Mt. Moon.

"So, you've never been to the Viridian Forest before?" asked Jake sometime later as he and Aaron entered the forest. Jake found it somewhat peculiar that a bug-type specialist as experienced as Aaron has never been to a place like the Viridian Forest (the fact that Aaron was a bug-type trainer was at first unknown to him and had come up during the conversation on the way). After all, the place had bug-type pokémon around every corner (or tree, to be more precise), and, since Aaron was from Sinnoh, going to the Viridian Forest could have given him the opportunity to see bug-type pokémon that were common mostly in Kanto.

"No." replied the Elite Four as he looked around the forest in wonder. "Aside from Sinnoh I've only been to Unova. Every once in a while me and the other Elite Four joined Cynthia when she went to visit her friend Caitlin. I've always wanted to come here, though. It's a shame my first time here has to be under such unpleasant circumstances." Being a mono-bug-type trainer, Aaron was already familiar with almost every single bug-type pokémon that existed. However, he hasn't had the chance to see bug-type pokémon that were native to Kanto, Johto and Hoenn in their natural habitats yet. Since it was already way past midnight, there were obviously no bug-type pokémon to be seen anywhere (not that there was time to observe wild pokémon, since they obviously had more important things to do).

"Yeah, Team Plasma sucks…" said Jake as he stretched his arms and let out a yawn. Charmander, who was sitting on his shoulders, happened to do the exact same thing at the same time, causing Aaron to chuckle. "Anyways, this forest is much bigger than it seems from the outside. If you don't know your way around it you can easily get lost during the night." The flame at the tip of Charmander's tail as well as two flashlights Aaron and Jake were holding were what provided them with light and allowed them to see where they were going.

"Maybe Team Plasma got lost here." said Aaron with a shrug. It seemed like an unlikely possibility, but one could always hope.

"If they are lost in here then we'll find them in no time." There was a short silence. "We should probably stop talking just to be on the safe side. I don't really think they're here, but you can never tell when it comes to Team Plasma."

"Good point."

The two carried on walking in silence while paying close attention to their surroundings. While all of Jake's pokémon other than Dratini were outside of their pokéballs Aaron still hasn't revealed even one of his own pokémon, but he was probably ready to grab a pokéball if it proved necessary. For a while they heard nothing but the sounds of their own footsteps, but at some point both Jake and Aaron were able to see a light in the distance. They then turned off their flashlights in order to avoid attracting any unwanted attention. "Sorry Charmander," whispered Jake, "I need you to go into your pokéball for a few moments." After returning the disappointed fire-type into her pokéball he looked at Aaron. "It will be a good idea if they think I'm alone. What if I'll go check it out while you follow at a safe distance? Then, if they somehow notice me, it'll be to our advantage if they won't expect one of the Elite Four to show up."

Aaron nodded. "I'll be up in the trees." Then, to Jake's surprise, he jumped upwards, grabbed a branch that was at least 2 meters above the ground, pulled himself up and disappeared. It seemed that spending a lot of time with bug-type pokémon had some benefits.

Knowing that Aaron was following him by using the trees, Jake went ahead and cautiously continued. He couldn't help but hope that it wasn't another injured Charmander. The last thing he needed was another creature that said "char" every 5 seconds. He slowly approached the light ahead of him, the source of which was hidden by a few tall bushes. _Please don't be another injured pokémon; I don't have time to take care of one now…_ he thought quietly to himself as a feeling of déjà vu came over him.

He came to a stop in front of the bushes and, after a short hesitation, took a peek. There was a small fire which, to his surprise, wasn't surrounded by a group of Team Plasma grunts who had been unfortunate enough to lose their way in the forest. Next to the fire was sitting a teenager who seemed somewhat younger than him. She had lavender hair and eyes, a bug catching net and she wore green shorts, a green shirt and a yellow tie. Jake realized that it probably wouldn't help, but he decided to approach her and ask her whether she had seen anything suspicious. It was also a possibility that she was lost in the woods. "Excuse me," said Jake as he, Flareon and Vulpix came out from behind the bushes.

The girl jumped to her feet, obviously startled. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!" she said upon seeing him, letting out a sigh and sitting back down by the fire.

"I'm sorry, miss, I didn't mean to. I just wanted to ask whether you happened to see-" he stopped talking as he saw the glare the girl was shooting in his direction. "I'm sorry, was it something I said?"

The girl took in a deep breath, held it in for a few seconds, stood up again and then shouted: "I'M A BOY!"

Jake, taken aback, did his best to hide the fact that he was surprised at what he had just heard. "Oh! I'm sorry!"

Bugsy sighed and sat back down. "Whatever… I'm used to his already… I just wasn't really expecting to run into anyone at such an hour." He stared at Jake for a short moment of silence. "You look familiar… Wait a minute… are you the one who's all over the news?"

Jake sighed and looked up, ignoring Bugsy's question, before calling out: "You can come down!" He then looked at Bugsy. "This might sound like a stupid question, but have you seen any Team Plasma grunts anywhere here in the forest?"

Bugsy shook his head. "Not that I remember. Why? Is something wrong?" At that moment Aaron jumped down from the branch he was sitting on. He looked at Jake, and was about to say that they might as well head back to Pewter City when Bugsy gasped and jumped to his feet. "You!"

Aaron, surprised, turned around. "Yes, can I help you?" He stared at the bug-type Gym Leader in front of him for a few moments before squinting his eyebrows. "You seem familiar, have we met bef-" he paused, finally remembering. "Oh!"

"I've been waiting for a chance to finally meet you in person!" said Bugsy with excitement, unleashing a pokéball from his belt and holding it out in front of him while grabbing his bug catching net with his other hand and leaning it against his shoulder. "Behold my bug research!"

**A/N: This probably isn't the best "to be continued" scenario out there, especially when considering the fact that people were kidnapped in this chapter, but who cares! ^^**

**And remember, children, Bugsy's a boy!**


	28. Missing (3)

Bertha shifted uncomfortably in her place for a couple of seconds and opened her eyes. Her vision was quite blurry for a couple of moments, but she was able to tell that she was no longer inside Jacob's house because she remembered what had happened earlier. This would have been easily avoided had she been awake when those cowards had shown their faces, but unfortunately that hadn't been the case. "I'm getting too old for this nonsense." she muttered quietly to herself as she sat up (with some effort). She looked around and realized that she had been placed in some sort of cell. The pokéballs containing her pokémon were no longer in the pockets of her jacket and her cell phone was missing as well. "Oh, dear me…"

The elderly woman stood up in order to take a better look around. The cell was located inside a small room that didn't have any furniture in it. The lights were turned on, so she couldn't tell whether it was already morning or whether she had just been unconscious for a few minutes. She walked over to the door of her cell, and a short examination made her realize that it was locked quite firmly (not that she had seriously expected it to be open). "Hello? Is there anybody out there?" she asked aloud, hoping that somebody in the hallway would hear her. Obviously she hadn't expected a police officer to enter the room, so she wasn't surprised when a bored and annoyed looking Team Plasma grunt came inside.

"Ugh… What do you want?" asked the grunt, rolling his eyes and closing the door behind him.

"Oh, yes, excuse me," said Bertha, making sure to use the classic 'fragile old lady tone', "I have a small problem with this holding cell…"

The Team Plasma grunt chuckled mockingly, rolling his eyes again. "You're our prisoner, what did you expect?" he asked, sarcastically, "A five-star hotel?"

"Of course not." said Bertha with an innocent smile. "It's just that you can't keep me in here."

"Oh, really?" asked the Team Plasma grunt, coming close to the bars of the cell in a provocative way. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing, good sir. It's just that there's no toilet in here."

The Team Plasma grunt sighed in annoyance and rolled his eyes. "Fine! You can use the restroom." Bertha simply smiled. "But after that you're coming straight back into the cell! Don't try anything funny!"

"What can a feeble old woman like me possibly do, my good sir, when she doesn't have her pokémon with her?" asked Bertha with a jolly expression as the young man in front of her unlocked the door of her cell. "After all, pokémon without a trainer are still pokémon, but a trainer without pokémon is just an ordinary person."

"Whatever."

Bertha walked out of the cell and slowly walked towards the door as the Team Plasma grunt followed her, watching her every move. After taking a few steps Bertha tripped and fell over. "Oh, goodness!"

"Now what?!" asked the Team Plasma grunt, who was becoming more and more annoyed with every passing second.

"You'll have to excuse me," said Bertha, "in my old age I have trouble keeping my balance from time to time."

"Whatever. Just get up. I have better things to do with my time, you know."

"Could you give me a hand? My legs aren't what they used to be."

The Team Plasma grunt sighed and rolled his eyes before offering Bertha his hand and helping her stand up.

"Thank you." said Bertha with a jolly expression. "And I'm sorry." Before the grunt even had a chance to ask her what she was talking about she kneed him straight in the groin. She then opened the bag he was carrying. Inside it were 8 pokéballs, 5 of which were hers. Bertha wasn't sure about the other 3, but she wasn't going to leave any pokémon with a member of Team Plasma if she could help it. In the bag was also her cell phone as well as an Xtransceiver. "I'll be taking those, thank you very much." She returned the pokéballs that belonged to her and the cell phone into her pockets before closing the bag and putting it on her back. "Again, I'm very sorry." she said with an expression of guilt as she knelt beside the agonized man in front of her. "You've got to admit, though, that you had this coming." *****

_Meanwhile, back in the Viridian Forest_

Aaron found himself simply staring at the Gym Leader in front of him without saying a word. "I'm sorry, what?"

Bugsy raised an eyebrow. "I, the Gym Leader of Azalea Town, challenge you, Elite Four Aaron, to a match."

"Seriously, even I understood that he just challenged you." said Jake with a roll of his eyes. He hoped that he wouldn't have to remind Aaron that they didn't really have time for that sort of thing, though.

"Oh!" said Aaron, facepalming. "I'm sorry, Bugsy, but I don't have time to battle right now."

Bugsy, who up until that moment appeared to be completely psyched about getting a chance to challenge Aaron, looked naturally disappointed. He was about to say something but then paused, thinking quietly. "Wait, this doesn't happen to have anything to do with you asking me about Team Plasma, does it?"

Jake nodded. "We're looking for them. They have Bertha and possibly one of my friends as well."

"What?!" asked Bugsy, shocked. "I thought all Team Plasma did was steal pokémon from people. Why would they kidnap a trainer?"

"Bertha's an Elite Four." said Jake after thinking about it for a moment. "They might be trying to send a message." After thinking about it some more he suddenly remembered the incident in Celadon City. "Or… Maybe they're trying to minimize any possible resistance..."

"What do you mean?" asked Aaron, confused.

"When Jacob and I were in Celadon City a few days ago there was a Team Plasma raid on the department store there." explained the fire-type trainer. "However, before attacking the department store itself, Team Plasma made sure that Erika wouldn't be able to do anything to get in their way."

"Oh yeah, I remember!" said Bugsy all of a sudden. "Falkner told me about what had happened there. He said that he, Janine, and another trainer helped rescue Erika and stop Team Plasma."

"So do you think Team Plasma's planning something here, in Pewter City?" asked Aaron with a thoughtful expression. "I mean, they might be trying to send a message, but it does make sense that they don't want trainers like Bertha getting in their way."

Jake looked at Bugsy. "You wouldn't happen to be in contact with Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader, by any chance, would you? Have you spoken to him today?"

Bugsy shook his head. "I don't know Brock all that well. I've only met him a few times."

Jake sighed and opened his Xtransceiver, dialing Jacob's number. After a few moments Jacob picked up. "Jacob?"

"_Hey Jake, did you guys find anything?_" asked Jacob with a hopeful expression. From the looks of it Jake was immediately able to tell that Jacob and Cynthia haven't run into anything suspicious.

"No." said Jake, shaking his head, "Listen, I need you and Cynthia to do me a little favor."

"_What is it?_"

"Could you take a look at the Pewter City Gym?"

"_What for? It's probably closed now._" After thinking about it for a few moments Jacob seemed to suddenly understand what Jake had in mind. "_You don't think that…_"

"I do."

"_Darn it…_" Jacob sighed. "_I hate Team Plasma so much._"

"Tell Cynthia to keep an eye out. There's no telling whether Team Plasma might attack her or the other members of the Elite Four."

"_I heard you._" came Cynthia's voice from somewhere behind Jacob. "_I'll call Flint and Lucian and tell them to be careful as well._" Jacob then hung up the call.

Jake, who knew that there was no point to remain in the Viridian Forest and longer and felt like it would be a better idea to regroup with the others, looked at Aaron and said "There's nothing else to do here. We should head back to Pewter City now."

"Wait!" said Bugsy, getting their attention. "Let me come with you; I want to help."

"You do?"

"Sure!" said Bugsy with a smile, having already put the fire out and gathered his belongings. "I think any trainer should resist Team Plasma if they are strong enough to do it. And besides, having a Gym Leader by your side is never a bad thing." Like other Gym Leaders Bugsy saw it as a Gym Leader's responsibility to stand up to villains like Team Plasma, not to mention that he has had a grudge against them ever since they came to Azalea town and tried to force Kurt into creating custom-made pokéballs for them by using actual force. On top of that Bugsy was also hoping to get a chance to battle Aaron once this was all over.

"He's got a point." said Aaron, getting a nod of agreement from Jake. "Either way, it wouldn't hurt to have another trainer on our side."

"True." Since there was no longer a reason for them to try to remain undetected he went ahead and released Charmander from her pokéball once again. The little fire dinosaur let out a yawn and once again settled down on his shoulders. "Alright, let's get-"

"Wait." said Bugsy all of a sudden.

"What is it?" asked Jake with a raised eyebrow, becoming even more confused when Bugsy suddenly released one of his pokémon; a Yanmega. "Bugsy?"

All of a sudden there was a noise behind him, and Bugsy was the first to react to it. "Yanmega, use Protect!" Jake and Aaron turned around just in time to see Yanmega's Protect block an Air Cutter attack that was about to hit all of them. For some reason not a single one of the three trainers seemed surprised that Team Plasma had just used their pokémon to attack people.

"Impressive, bug-freak." said one of five Team Plasma grunts, who appeared to be the commander of the group. She chuckled as the Unfezant of one of her partners retreated. From the looks of it the group had an arsenal of flying and rock-type pokémon, which could only mean that they were in the Viridian Forest in order to go after Aaron. "You should be flattered. Only a small number of people impress me, and an even smaller number manages to impress me _twice_."

Bugsy didn't really need the rather obvious hint she had just given him in order to recognize her from the incident in Azalea Town. "What are you thugs up to this time?"

"Isn't it obvious?" asked the commander with obvious arrogance, "We already have one of the _Pathetic_ Four and we're trying to complete the collection. Pokémon that are that strong can be very useful to Team Plasma. A Gym Leader's pokémon as well as any other pokémon that can be taken is to be taken as well, of course." She grinned. "The three of you are coming with us! I wouldn't even resist if I were you, really, it will only be a waste of time for all of us." A short silence assured her that the 3 trainers in front of her were not going to comply. "Yeah, I thought so." She looked at the other 4 Team Plasma grunts behind her with a snicker, "You take care of the bug-freaks." she said, "I'll take care of _this_ lame excuse for a trainer."

Jake frowned and clenched his hand into a fist as the Team Plasma commander approached him. Now he knew for certain that Team Plasma had Bertha somewhere, and this member of Team Plasma looked like she knew where they were keeping her. The Team Plasma commander looked at his 3 pokémon and laughed. "I honestly don't understand people like you." she said, getting growls from all 3 of them, "Wondering around with only one type of pokémon at a time like this… It's like you don't even care about your own safety."

"Says the one who goes around threatening Gym Leaders and Elite Four members on a daily basis?"

"Hm…" She brought a hand to her chin and was quiet for a few seconds, "I guess that is true." She shrugged and took out a pokéball, "Oh well, let's get this over with. We came here ready to deal with bug-types, but the beautiful thing about rock-types is that they'll work just as well against fire-types." Snickering, she sent out a Boldore. "This will be a piece of cake."

While Jake has never seen a Boldore before, or any other Unova-native pokémon other than the ones Team Plasma had used back in Cerulean City for that matter, he was able to tell that the pokémon was a rock-type by studying its appearance. He wasn't going to immediately surrender just because he was in a clear type disadvantage with no direct way to counter it, though. "Okay, Charmander, I'm sure you'll be able to handle this." If this member of Team Plasma knew where Bertha was then he was going to find out, however difficult it was going to be. Charmander gave her trainer a determined nod and jumped down, landing between him and the rock-type pokémon in front of them.

The Team Plasma commander obviously didn't look very impressed. She was used to having to be careful against experienced trainers like Gym Leaders even if she had a type advantage, but against some random trainer who only had one evolved pokémon that had evolved through the use of a fire-stone and not through gaining actual experience? This really was going to be a piece of cake. "You really should just give up and hand your pokémon over to us." she said with a yawn as she closed her eyes, "Because, when you think about it, it's only a matter of time until-"

She stopped talking and opened her eyes to see a stream of fire hit her Boldore directly. "How rude!" she exclaimed with rage, "I was trying to be nice, but now you've-" She stomped her foot in rage when Charmander used Flamethrower once again, hitting her Boldore a second time. "I'm talking here!" Her Boldore, being an evolved rock-type, hadn't taken a lot of damage even after being directly hit with Flamethrower twice. Jake hoped that Charmander would be able to keep hitting it until it would eventually faint. "That does it! Now I am mad! Boldore, use Rock Blast and smash that stupid lizard into a pile of ash!"

"Charmander, be careful!" Charmander was able to jump into the air just in time for the rock to miss her. The rock kept going and slammed directly into a tree somewhere behind Charmander, resulting in a loud thud. Had the rock-type attack hit her it would have resulted in some serious damage. "Quickly, use Flamethrower again!"

"Boldore, charge!" When the Flamethrower attack ended both Jake and Charmander were surprised to find that Boldore was still charging directly at Charmander, despite being directly hit yet again. "Use Headbutt!"

The fact that Charmander was taken by surprise resulted in her being hit directly, despite Boldore's low speed. The Headbutt was quite powerful so Charmander ended up getting pushed away and ending up next to one of the trees. "Charmander, are you okay?!" Charmander stood back up while leaning against the tree for support, nodding at her trainer. It seemed that Boldore was starting to have a hard time tanking all of those direct Flamethrowers, but the fact that being directly hit by one couldn't stop it from running around was quite concerning.

"How cute… Boldore, use Headbutt again!"

Jake quietly waited until Boldore was close to hitting Charmander again. "Jump out of the way while using Scratch!"

The Team Plasma commander laughed. "You two are pathetic. Who the hell uses Scratch on a rock-type pokémon like-" she was cut short when she noticed that her Boldore ended up head butting the tree Charmander had leaned against. The Scratch attack on its own obviously hadn't inflicted any significant damage, but using it as a decoy was worth it because Boldore seemed to have taken some recoil damage as a result of hitting the tree.

"Moron."

"I heard that!"

_Elsewhere_

Melanie was restlessly pacing back and forth in the cell she had been placed in. She has been there for perhaps an hour, but it felt like days. Her pokémon were no longer with her so she was obviously worried sick about them, not to mention that the thought of possibly never seeing them again was also driving her out of her mind. "I'm never going to get out of here!" she eventually exclaimed in despair. "I'm such a weakling for letting this happen!" She sat down on the floor and burst into tears.

At that moment a door opened. Melanie, expecting to see some random Team Plasma grunt, was naturally surprised to see Bertha standing in the doorway. "Oh, sweetheart, I finally found you!" said the elderly woman with a jolly smile.

"Bertha?"

Bertha took out a pokéball and released her Hippowdon before pointing at the cell Melanie was in. "Hippowdon, would you be so kind?" The ground-type pokémon growled and Melanie let out a startled squeak as Hippowdon slammed against the bars, causing them to break. "Well," said Bertha eventually, noticing that Melanie was still sitting there with a startled look on her face, "are you coming with me or not?"

Melanie stood up and walked out of the cell, trying to ignore the way Hippowdon was staring at her. "How did you break free?" she asked, looking confused.

"Oh, child, I'll tell you later. It's a funny story." She then handed the bag she had taken from that Team Plasma grunt to her. "I believe this is yours."

"That's my backpack!" She looked inside and was more than relieved to see that the pokéballs containing her 3 pokémon were there (and her Xtransceiver, but that wasn't as important). She took out the 3 pokéballs and held them close, smiling, "I'll never let you out of my sight again!"

"Come with me, child, we should get moving."

Melanie, who was obviously desperate to get the hell out of wherever they were, wasn't going to argue. The two trainers left the room and walked down the hallway, followed by Bertha's Hippowdon. "Where exactly are we?"

"Stop right there!" The two trainers (and Hippowdon) came to a halt and turned around to see a group of 6 Team Plasma grunts. "You two aren't taking another step!"

Melanie, realizing that she and Bertha were outnumbered, became nervous and said nothing. She was quite surprised to see Bertha smile. "Dear child," she said, looking at the young brunette next to her reassuringly as Hippowdon growled, "don't assume for an instant that they stand a chance."

******* Sometimes people like that Team Plasma grunt have to go down (to make room for better things – like me posting another chapter after only 3 days) ._.**


	29. Metal Claw

"What a pure waste of my time…" said the Team Plasma commander with an amused yawn to the trainer in front of her, "Obviously you never stood a chance, but I expected this to be a little more interesting." Even though she was talking like the battle was already over it technically wasn't over yet. Jake's Charmander, while barely hanging in there, was still standing on her feet with noticeable determination. The commander's Boldore seemed quite fatigued from all the Flamethrowers it had directly taken (and from chasing Charmander around), but its so-called trainer was so sure of her victory that she didn't seem to even notice the rock-type pokémon's exhaustion.

Jake made no reply to the commander's taunting attempts. He, unlike her, was paying more attention to the details and he was able to tell that winning the battle would be possible if Charmander kept dodging Boldore's attacks for just a little longer while continuing to attack it from a safe distance. "Now that I'm thinking about it," continued the commander, who was still in her own little world made of death and no sparkles whatsoever, "a pokémon as useless as your pathetic Charmander can't possibly be of any use to the greatness of Team Plasma. I think that after taking your pokémon away I'll just throw it into a pond to save myself the trouble of feeding it!"

Jake found himself staring at the Team Plasma commander with a look of disbelief and even horror. Was he just incorrectly interpreting what she had just said or had she really just spoken of the possibility of killing a pokémon? "What did you say?!" he asked, his expression of shock replaced by an enraged one.

"This Charmander obviously won't be of any use to me, so why bother with it?" asked the Team Plasma member with another yawn. "If a pokémon's weak and useless you should just let it go!" Jake clenched both of his hands into fists and gritted in teeth. A person like that should be just thrown into jail without the option of seeing the light of the sun ever again. He was about to tell Charmander to use Flamethrower again, but that was when he saw that the fire-type pokémon was charging directly at her rock-type opponent, much to the commander's amusement. "Oh no, I'm so very scared!"

Charmander then used what appeared to be a simple Scratch attack but, to the surprise of both Jake and the Team Plasma commander, Boldore let out yelp of pain and even staggered a few steps backwards. "What?!" exclaimed the Team Plasma commander with surprised. How could a normal-type move with a small amount of power like Scratch cause a rock-type pokémon like Boldore so much damage? "That's impossible!"

Jake didn't have even the slightest clue as to how had Charmander managed to cause that much damage to Boldore using only Scratch, but he definitely wasn't going to complain. "That was Metal Claw!" Jake turned around and saw that it was Aaron who had just spoken to him. He and Bugsy, from the looks of things, were still busy fighting the other 4 Team Plasma grunts, but the Elite Four member must have seen Charmander use the attack in the corner of his eye. "It's a steel-type move! Pokémon learn new moves on their own by gaining experience, and Metal Claw is one of the moves a Charmander can learn." *****

"Steel, huh?" asked Jake with a grin as he looked back at the Team Plasma commander (who had a look of disbelief on her face).

"You've got to be kidding me!" she exclaimed in frustration.

"Charmander, if you'd be so kind…" Before the commander could even tell Boldore to dodge or use another move Charmander leapt at the rock-type pokémon and hit it with Metal Claw again, causing it to collapse and faint.

"What?! No! I couldn't have lost to some kid!" exclaimed the defeated member of Team Plasma, enraged.

Charmander meanwhile turned around and ran over to her trainer, who smiled and waited for her with open arms. "Way to go, Charmander! That was awesome!" Charmander smiled proudly, although it was easy to tell that she was still tired from the battle. "That was our first win against a rock-type."

"_Char!_" exclaimed the little pokémon in delight, waving her little arms in the air.

"Wait here for a second," said Jake, gently placing Charmander next to Eevee and Vulpix, "I'll be right back."

"This can't be! Stupid, useless pokémon!" She opened her eyes with the intention of finding that Boldore of hers and giving it a piece of her mind, only to realize that Jake was standing just a few inches from her face. "What the hell do _you_ want?"

"Just to ask you a small question… What's your problem?"

"What?"

"I asked what your stupid problem is, you pathetic excuse for a human being!" He gritted his teeth in anger, grabbing her by the collar of her uniform. "What the hell's wrong with you?! What kind of person even cracks jokes about killing a living creature?! You disgust me!" He noticed that there was one pokéball attached to her belt, and when he realized what it was he took it and pushed her away, causing her to trip over a branch and fall over.

"Hey, that's mine!" she exclaimed, standing back up. "Give it back!"

"Not anymore." Whether she had stolen Boldore from a trainer in Unova or not (she probably had) there was absolutely no chance that he would willingly hand the pokéball back to her.

"Um… Boss?"

"What?!" asked the commander with rage, turning around and seeing that the other 4 Team Plasma grunts were standing directly behind her. From the looks on their faces she was able to figure out that they had failed in beating Bugsy and Aaron. "You idiots!" She looked back at Jake, who now had Bugsy and Aaron standing behind him. "You can take the useless pokémon! I don't need it, it's worthless! Mark my words, though; this isn't over! Team Plasma will be back!"

Jake rolled his eyes as the 5 Team Plasma members ran away. "Can you believe that?" he asked, turning around to look at Bugsy and Aaron. The two trainers didn't say a word and silently watched as Jake approached the fainted Boldore. The rock-type pokémon was starting to move, which could only mean that it was waking up (at least that's what they all assumed, seeing how it didn't have an actual face). It let out what sounded like grunt of pain followed by a startled yelp as it saw the 3 strangers in front of him, one of which was the trainer he had battled just a few minutes ago. It frantically looked around but soon covered its face with its 2 forelegs and began shaking upon not seeing a familiar face anywhere.

"It must have been horrible being the pokémon under the use of Team Plasma." said Bugsy, making sure not to raise his voice too much so to not scare Boldore even more. "No wonder it's afraid of us…"

Jake looked around for his bag before remembering that he had taken it off and left it next to Flareon and Vulpix before battling the Team Plasma commander. "Flareon, would you mind bringing my backpack over?" The fire-type Eeveelution nodded and grabbed his trainer's bag in his mouth before carrying it over. "Thanks." He opened the bag and began looking through it, eventually taking out a Sitrus Berry. He would have used a Potion, but since that could have caused a stinging sensation he decided not to take any risks. "Here you go!" he said with a smile, holding out the berry in front of the rock-type pokémon.

Boldore slightly removed one of the legs covering its face and looked at the berry. While it didn't really have a facial expression Jake was able to tell that it was hesitating. "We won't hurt you." he said, slowly bringing the Sitrus Berry closer. "This will make you feel better." The rock-type pokémon hesitated for a very long moment before slowly standing up, (with some effort, of course). It looked at the berry and then at the humans and pokémon in front of it, still a little reluctant. "Go on, it's alright."

Boldore then leaned forward and swallowed the Sitrus Berry in one bite, causing Jake to chuckle as it chewed it loudly. It must have been very hungry, something which wasn't all that surprising. Jake went ahead and took out a few Oran Berries out of his bag as well as a Rawst Berry, which was going to help Boldore get over some of the damage from all the Flamethrowers it had been hit by earlier. Boldore happily ate them, this time with less hesitation.

"What are you going to do with it now?" asked Aaron as he watched the rock-type pokémon happily chew on the berries it had been given.

"I'll keep it with me until I find a trainer who I know will take good care of it." said Jake with a smile as he watched Boldore eat.

"What, you'll just walk up to trainers and ask them if they want a Boldore?" asked Bugsy, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"There are currently only 3 trainers in this entire world that I trust enough in order to entrust them with a pokémon that is afraid of people because it's been badly treated." His Xtransceiver then began ringing, as if right on cue. "Hey Jacob," he said, after picking up the call, "is there anything new? Have you been at the Pewter City Gym yet?"

"_We found Brock there and he said he hasn't seen Team Plasma anywhere._" said Jacob, "_However there is something else…_"

"What is it?" asked Jake, seeing Cynthia and Brock talking somewhere behind Jacob.

"_Cynthia told me to ask Aaron whether he happened to receive a text message from Bertha._"

"A text message?" asked Aaron, raising an eyebrow, "From Bertha?" He shook his head after checking his cell phone. "I didn't get anything." It sounded quite illogical to him (as well as to Jake and Bugsy) that Berth has sent a text message.

"_Yeah. Cynthia got a text from her a few minutes ago that mentioned an abandoned warehouse at the northern part of Pewter City._"

"Maybe that's where she is?" asked Bugsy.

Jacob, who was a little surprised to suddenly see the Gym Leader of Azalea Town on the screen of his Xtransceiver, was silent for a few seconds before replying. _"Could be, but we don't know for sure. We tried calling her after receiving the message but the line was dead._"

"It's worth looking into." said Jake thoughtfully. "Where are the three of you now?"

"_We're still at the Pewter City Gym."_ said Jacob, "_Cynthia had just spoken to Lucian on the phone and we're waiting for him and Flint to get here._"

"Okay. Wait for us, we'll come too."

"_What about you guys? Did you find anything interesting in the Viridian Forest?_"

Jake shook his head. "No. A few Team Plasma tards came here to look for Aaron, but we're fine now. Just wait for us there, it'll only take us a few minutes." He then hung up the call and looked at the two bug-type specialists in front of him. "Alright, follow me. I know where the Pewter Gym is." After Jake managed to convince Boldore to get back into its pokéball (since he didn't want to startle it by doing it completely out of the blue) they were on their way.

By the time they arrived at the Pewter Gym Lucian and Flint had already gotten there as well. So, since there was obviously no reason to delay any further, they set out towards the northern part of Pewter City right away. It was already the middle of the night so they obviously couldn't see anybody anywhere as they walked through the streets. Cynthia, unlike the others, was flying on her Togekiss in order to be able to keep an eye out for Team Plasma or anything else that might require their attention. After a matter of about 10 minutes they all found themselves in front of what Brock supposed was the warehouse mentioned in Bertha's message.

"I'm going to say something I've wanted to say for the past 15 minutes." said Lucian all of a sudden. "This might be a trap. Team Plasma might have sent the message from Bertha's phone in order to lure us here."

"Either way," said Flint as he tried to open the warehouses large doors and noticed that they wouldn't budge, "the doors are locked."

"That won't be a problem." said Cynthia, landing next to them. "Stand back. If it is a trap and there are too many of them you can run and I'll fly on Togekiss." The others, deciding not to argue because Cynthia didn't seem to be in a good mood, quietly nodded and went away from the doors of the warehouse. "Grachomp!" The former champion released the dual-type dragon and ground pokémon and pointed at the doors. "Use Giga Impact, bring these doors down!"

The doors creaked loudly and then fell down, resulting in a cloud of smoke. Cynthia (and the others, who were standing some distance away) stood silently and watched as the smoke slowly cleared. Once it was all out of the way Cynthia took a few step backwards, as if in surprise. "What the-" she exclaimed, but the rest of the words never came out of her mouth.

"What is it?" asked Jake worriedly, making sure to raise his voice in order for Cynthia to be able to hear him.

"See for yourself!" said Cynthia, turning her head and looking at them over her shoulder.

They all came over and when they arrived next to Cynthia, to their surprise, they saw Bertha and Melanie sitting on the floor in the middle of an empty room while playing Odds and Evens. "One, two, three, shoot!" exclaimed Melanie as she held out her fist and extended three fingers. Bertha did the same, extending one finger. "Even! I win again, yay!" She smiled and clapped her hands together (her Charmander, who was standing next to her, did the same thing, cheering his trainer on).

Bertha silently smiled and before looking at the doorway where Cynthia, Jake and all the others were standing with looks of surprise and disbelief on their faces. "Hey, the gang's all here." she said with an amused chuckle.

Melanie, who had her back turned on them, looked around and excitedly waved one of her hands. "Hey guys!"

"Bertha, what happened?" asked Aaron, raising an eyebrow.

"Where's Team Plasma?" asked Cynthia, in a more serious tone.

"Oh, you mean that troublesome bunch?" asked Bertha, getting a series of nods from everybody. "Don't worry about them, they're in the back."

Cynthia and the rest of the Sinnoh Elite Four nodded at each other before slowly heading towards the door Bertha had pointed at (with Cynthia and her Garchomp leading the way). Jake followed them while Jacob, Bugsy and Brock stayed behind. They opened the door and saw about 20 Team Plasma grunts. Because of how calm Bertha looked they had naturally expected to see a group of Team Plasma grunts that were tied by ropes, but they definitely hadn't expected to see them all sitting close to one another with Melanie's Onix tightened around them in order to prevent them from going anywhere.

"Is everything alright back there, Onix?" asked Melanie with a smile. Onix gave a loud growl in response, which was followed by frightened squeaks as the rock and ground-type pokémon gently tightened its grip on the trapped Team Plasma grunts a little in order to scare them.

_The following day_

"Bon appétit!" said Jake with a smile as Jacob, Melanie, Bugsy, Brock, Cynthia and the 4 members of the Sinnoh Elite Four entered Jacob's kitchen. On the table was a delicious looking lunch prepared for exactly 10 people (it was around 2 and a half PM). ******

"What is this?" asked Cynthia as she and the others looked at the table in surprise.

"That's just my way of apologizing for my rude behavior when you guys found me yesterday in the evening."

"Oh… that's okay, really…" said Cynthia, "You shouldn't have…"

"This must have required a lot of effort to prepare." said Lucian.

"Don't mention it." said Jake with another smile.

"Are you sure it's okay that I'm staying?" asked Bugsy, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. He had to be back in Azalea Town by the end of the day in order to reopen the Azalea Gym the following morning, and going back to Johto was obviously going to take some time. Because of that (and because he didn't want to be rude by turning down such a generous offer) he wanted to make sure that it was alright for him to be there.

"Sure! You and Brock helped out, so help yourself to the table!"

On the other side of the kitchen (which was basically the living room since the two rooms were combined) some of the pokémon of all the trainers (the few that were outside of their pokéballs that is) were either eating some pokémon food, resting or interacting with one another. Dratini was busy admiring Cynthia's Garchomp (who was surprisingly much more patient towards it than Jake's Charmander), Jacob's Bronzor and Lucian's Bronzong were having a staring contest, Vulpix was busy ignoring both Jake's Flareon and Flint's Flareon and Melanie's Charmander just sat next to Jake's Charmander and silently watched as the female of its species ate some pokémon food.

The only other pokémon other than the ones mentioned above that was outside of its pokéball was Boldore. At first Jake had doubted whether letting it out in a room full of people it wouldn't recognize would be a good idea (for obvious reasons), but he knew that nothing bad could come of it and that Boldore needed to interact with other pokémon and their trainers in order to begin to recover. The rock-type pokémon was quietly sitting in the corner, keeping its gaze fixed on the humans who were standing near the table. Somehow Jake was able to tell that it was hungry and that it was just too nervous to eat with so many people in the room.

The trainers were about to sit down at the table and eat but they all found themselves silently staring as Jake approached Boldore and kneeled in front of it, silently whispering something loud enough so that only Boldore could hear him. The rock-type pokémon didn't seem to be as scared of him as it was of the others, and they couldn't help but smile as it affectionately tackled the unsuspecting teenager to the floor. Unfortunately for Jake Boldore was quite heavy, but he managed to eventually free himself from underneath its weight and, after some more whispering, the rock-type pokémon began to eat.

"You should start eating before it gets cold, you know." said Jake before standing up and heading up the stairs (much to the confusion of all of them because they had expected him to sit down and eat with them).

It was then that Jacob suddenly remembered that Jake hasn't said a single word to Bertha since they had found her and Melanie in that warehouse. Bertha sighed, stood up, and walked towards the stairs while ignoring the fact that everybody (even the pokémon that were present in the room) were looking at her. She and her nephew were going to have to have that talk sooner or later and, now that she knew where he was (and wasn't being held captive), there was no point in delaying the inevitable.

******* I remember using Metal Claw against Brock in FR/LG. Oh, the memories.**

******** Unfortunately my imagination isn't too great when it comes to describing food. The only thing I know how to cook is an omelet… I'll let you use your own imagination for the physical description of what's on the table.**


	30. The Journey Continues

Bertha, who was quite unfamiliar with Jacob's house (having only been in its living room and in Jacob's room), ended up wondering around the 2nd floor for quite a while before finding her nephew standing on the balcony while looking out into the street. He didn't turn around to look at him when she opened the door and stepped outside, but she was obviously smart enough in order to know that he had noticed the fact that he was no longer alone. Another thing she was certain about was that, had her nephew wanted to keep avoiding her, he would have just left the house and disappeared again.

When she arrived at his side and looked at him he briefly looked back at her in the corner of his eye before once again staring out into the streets. He still had his mother's eyes, but there were many things about him that were different compared to the last time she had seen him (other than the fact that he was quite taller than her now). He wasn't a child anymore. She could tell just by his body language that he was a different person and yet the same person; as weird as it may sound. He also no longer greeted her with that smile she had received from him every single time they had met before her departure to Sinnoh, but she wasn't stupid. She knew more than well that she deserved the cold attitude he was giving her.

One thing that appeared to be the same about him was his attitude towards pokémon. She had no idea how things had been in that regard during the 7 years of her absence, but what she was seeing right then easily reminded her of the time before the tragedy had struck their family. As a kid, her nephew was like most children his age; excited about the option of going on a journey one day and meeting a lot of different people and pokémon. What she was seeing upon looking at him after all these years was a trainer who, while still at the very beginning of his path, genuinely cared about the welfare of other people and pokémon, even if they weren't his own pokémon.

Watching him interact with Boldore earlier had literally forced a smile to appear on her face. Jacob had told her, Cynthia and the rest of the Sinnoh Elite a little about him earlier in the morning so she knew that Jake had a preference for fire-type pokémon. Therefore the way he had taken Boldore in, even if it was possibly only temporary, made her realize that he didn't think less of other pokémon just because they weren't fire-types. That was the kind of attitude Bertha has always looked for in the trainers she battled and tested. It was the kind of attitude she saw in Frontier Brains, Gym Leaders, Elite Four Members, Champions and pretty much every pokémon trainer who has ever managed to get far as a trainer. Cynthia had remarked that he bore a resemblance to Dawn, the trainer who had faced Giratina. Bertha didn't know whether her nephew necessarily had ambitions similar to Dawn's, but hearing Cynthia say that (as well as having the same impression of him herself) made her feel proud.

"What are you looking at?" Bertha eventually asked, not knowing how else to strike up a conversation with him. She knew what direction the conversation would eventually take, so the way she started it didn't seem to be all that important.

Jake continued staring at the exact same spot for a few seconds and then looked at her, as if in disbelief. "Is that what you have to say to me after 7 years?"

Bertha smiled a faint smile. She had seen this coming, and was more than aware that it was going to be quite unpleasant (especially for her). "No, it's not. I don't have much to say, and first I must hear what _you_ have to say to me."

"Alright, fine." he said after a short silence, fully turning to face her. "You can't just walk back into my life after 7 years and expect everything to be okay. It is not okay! The apartment Emily and I lived in with our parents was a rented one! It was a matter of perhaps a few days after their deaths before I was out on the streets! Mom and dad's savings barely lasted for a week or two so I had to drop out of school and work! I was unable to stay in touch with all my friends and it was sheer dumb luck that introduced me to Jacob one year later! I don't even know why he even hung out with someone like me but…"

He paused for a few moments (during which his aunt remained completely silent). "How do you think I felt when I saw you on TV a few days ago, huh?" Again she said nothing. "I thought you were dead. I could have spent the past 7 years living a normal life but you weren't here!"

"You're right, I know."

"And another thing, I-" he stopped once again, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "You know? What do you mean you know?!"

"My reasons for never coming to the funeral or the memorials are not even close to being good enough in order to justify the fact that you had to grow up on your own." said Bertha with a sigh. "All I can do now is to tell you that I'm sorry and hope that you'll believe me."

"I… You…" he said, stuttering, "You jerk! How am I supposed to yell at you now?!"

Bertha smiled a faint smile. "If you want to yell at me you should. Go right ahead, I deserve it." Her nephew let out a frustrated sigh and once again looked out into the street. "Do you want me to stop talking?" asked Bertha after a short silence, getting a nod in response. She was silent for a few more seconds, hesitating. "Do you want me to leave?"

Jake silently looked at his aunt and then shook his head. "No…" There was a short silence. "I was worried, you know…"

"What? Oh, you mean that whole incident with Team Plasma?" asked Bertha, getting a silent nod in response. "Oh, it wasn't that big of a deal. Once I got out of the cell everything was under control."

"How did you stop all the grunts that were there?" asked Jake, obviously curious.

"Once I had my pokémon back with me I was fine." said Bertha, smiling.

"Yeah, but you mentioned something about a cell just now?" His aunt chuckled and gave him a quick recap of how she had gotten out of her cell as well as gotten her pokémon back. "Wow… That is so cool." said her nephew, causing her to chuckle again. The fact that she had taken on such a large number of Team Plasma grunts at the same time after getting her pokémon back was also very impressive.

"Look, that's behind us now." said Bertha after a short silence, placing a hand on her nephew's shoulder. "With you here I can move back to Pewter City and then everything will be back to normal." She smiled, "Won't that be great?" Jake looked at her for a moment and then shook his head, removing her hand from his shoulder. "What's wrong?" she asked, confused.

"This is too soon." he said with a sigh, getting an even more confused look in return.

"I… I don't understand..."

"I don't need anybody to take care of me, I'm not a kid anymore." said Jake with a soft smile. "Either way, I'm on a journey now. I'll most likely stay here until Jacob earns the Boulder Badge from Brock but after that happens we'll be on our way again."

"Oh, I see…" said Bertha, looking down at the floor, "What you're trying to say is that we each have our own life to live…" It didn't surprise her too much that her nephew was not ready to forgive her yet. She couldn't blame him for that.

"Well, if you want, um…" he said, rubbing the back of his head with a hand.

"What?"

"I won't mind if you stay with me in Pewter City until Jacob and I leave again. If you want to, that is…"

Bertha looked slightly surprised at his offer, but she was glad that he had made it nonetheless. "Why, I'd love to." she said with a genuine smile. "We can both stay at my house!"

"Wait… Your house?" he asked, receiving a nod from Bertha. "You mean the house you used to live in 7 years ago?"

"Yes… Just thinking about it brought back painful memories so I never sold it…"

"I see… sure, why the hell not?" He smiled and was silent for a few moments. "Can I ask you a favor?" Bertha nodded. "I've been planning to spend some of my time here in Pewter City training at Brock's Gym. You know, because of the whole rock-types having an advantage over fire-types thing…"

"Go on." said Bertha with a smile.

"I bet that many trainers ask you things like this all the time, but… Will you help me train a little before going back to Sinnoh?"

Bertha was silent for a while, thinking about it. "You're right, I do get requests like that from a lot of trainers…" she said with a rather serious expression, "But you're not just some random trainer, so sure!"

Jake smiled. "Alright! This is going to be so awesome!" With all due respect to Brock and his Pokémon Gym Jake was quite certain that training with an Elite Four would be more beneficial for him. "But there's one thing we need to do before we can start the whole amending-broken-bonds process."

"And what is that?" asked Bertha, sounding naturally curious.

_Sometime later, back in Jacob's kitchen_

"There still seems to be a paparazzi photographer around every corner." said Jake, looking at Bertha in the corner of his eye as they both stood in front of a window. "Any ideas?"

"Maybe if you just answer their questions they'll leave you alone?" asked Jacob, who was sitting on the couch next to Lucian (who was obviously reading a book). "How bad can it possibly be?"

"Not going to happen, child." said Bertha with a smirk. "If we answer them then they win!"

"Exactly." said Jake with a nod of agreement, causing Jacob to roll his eyes. These two were turning out to be more and more alike with every passing second.

"I might have an idea." said Aaron with a thoughtful expression.

"I don't think lying to them about you and Flint getting into a bar fight is going to work a second time." remarked Cynthia, causing Aaron to frown.

"That's not what I had in mind." said the bug-type trainer with a roll of his eyes before looking at Bugsy, who was leaning against a wall and fiddling with his bug catching net. "Are you still up for that battle you wanted to have yesterday?"

"Oh! Um, sure!" said Bugsy, looking slightly surprised at the offer. "I'd be honored to! But… how's that going to help Jake and Bertha to sneak past all of them?"

So it eventually turned out, like Aaron had anticipated, that a pokémon battle between an Elite Four member and a Gym Leader who specialize in the same pokémon type really was a better attention-getter. Bertha and Jake had ceased to be the center of attention (even if only temporarily) as soon as Aaron and Bugsy had come outside and told the photographers that they were about to have a match.

"Could you at least tell me where we're going?" asked Bertha eventually. They have been walking through the city for the past 10 minutes and she still couldn't guess what it was exactly that her nephew wanted to show her.

"You'll see." said her nephew, who didn't seem like he was in a hurry. Every once in a while some people stared at them but so far nobody has approached or provoked them. "Aaron's idea is definitely working. I haven't seen a single photographer since we left Jacob's house." There was a short silence. "So what's it like being here again?" he asked, unable to help his curiosity.

"It's not as different as I thought it would be." said Bertha as she looked around. "The city, that is. Other than the fact that back then people didn't stare at me when I walked down the street I'd say that nothing has changed." She stopped talking for a moment and looked around. "I recognize most of these stores… and that post-office… I also remember that pokémon center at the corner of the street, over there."

"You know what they say… The more things change the more they stay the same."

"I wouldn't say that that's true about everything, though…"

She was about to say something else after a long silence but her nephew interrupted her. "We're here."

Bertha, who had spent the last minute staring at her own feet as they walked, raised her gaze upwards and saw that they were in a cemetery. "Oh, I see…"

Jake could tell that his aunt was a little reluctant so he offered her his hand, which she stared at for a moment and then accepted. They silently walked for perhaps a minute or two before finding the 3 graves they were looking for. "Here they are."

"And to think that-" said Bertha, heaving a sigh, "-they've been in this place for 7 years and I never came here even once."

Jake was silent for a while before reaching into one of the inners pockets of his jacket and taking something out of it. "Do you remember this?" he asked quietly, showing the object to her.

Bertha looked at the old ocarina with an expression of surprise before taking it from her nephew just for the sole purpose of getting to hold it herself. "I bought this for your sister on her birthday." she stared at it for a few more seconds before looking at her nephew, confused. "You held on to it all these years?"

Jake nodded and looked at the wind instrument, smiling. "Yeah… It reminds me of the time I spent with Emily in order to show her how to play it."

Bertha smiled as well. "Oh yes, I remember."

Jake was about to say something else but then he looked up at the sky and saw that rainclouds were starting to gather. The presence of rainclouds has never necessarily meant that it would rain but a loud thunder was enough to confirm their worries. "We should probably start heading back."

_One week later_

Seven days ended up passing by before anybody had a chance to notice. Cynthia and the rest of the Sinnoh Elite Four had left Kanto and gone back to Sinnoh the day that followed Jake's and Bertha's reconciliation. The truth was that Jacob ended up earning the Boulder Badge from Brock after only 2 days (when they had a rematch) but he spent the rest of the week pretending to have not earned it in order to give Jake and Bertha some more time together. If Jake had caught on to that, something which Jacob had very little doubt about, then he wasn't bothered by it.

Aside from doing some actual training with his aunt Jake had also taken the opportunity to look at that catalogue for TMs as well as order a respectable amount of them. Since Bertha was a member of the Elite Four she obviously knew quite a lot about Technical Machines and she taught him the basics regarding how to use them. Like Erika had said to him upon giving him that TM after their battle, Bertha also mentioned that a TM was what was needed in order to get started. However, she added, it would require a lot of work and training in order to allow a pokémon to successfully learn a move from a Technical Machine.

"Hey, do you think I could borrow some of those after you're done with them?" asked Jacob as he and Jake helped Bertha pack her belongings. It was true that she hadn't come to Kanto with anything but her pokémon and her cell phone, but there were some things in her old house that she wanted to take with her back to Sinnoh. Jacob knew that Jake was interested in Technical Machines, but he seriously hadn't expected his friend to buy so many of them. It appeared that Jake was way more serious about the whole countering-type-disadvantages thing than Jacob had originally thought.

"Perhaps." said Jake with an amused chuckle. "If you don't annoy me." He grabbed a framed picture that was on one of the tables and looked at it. "Hey, Bertha?" he asked, getting his aunt's attention. "This picture too, right?"

Bertha came over and took a close look. It was a picture of her and her niece. "Of course." She had to admit that it was weird to have him call her by her name. When they were little both he and his sister had always called her 'auntie', but then again she couldn't expect to be called like that by a 17 years old teenager. She looked around for a few seconds and then smiled. "I think that's everything."

"Okay then. I'll go to the airport with you."

"I'll come to." said Jacob with a shrug. "I'd go wait with Melanie or something, but she's at the Pewter Gym again. There's no getting her attention when she's training or battling. Surprisingly."

"Oh, yeah… She's still trying to earn to Boulder Badge…" Melanie had 3 pokémon: a Charmander, an Onix and a Butterfree (which had evolved from her Metapod a few days ago). With 2 pokémon that were weak against rock-type pokémon on her team it was obviously quite difficult to face a rock-type expert like Brock. "Should we wait for her to earn the Boulder Badge before leaving for the next city?" he asked after a short silence. "I don't mind waiting." He and his pokémon could practice with TMs anywhere – it was Jacob who was collecting Gym Badges.

"I don't mind either." said Jacob, "But she said that we should carry on without her and that she'd catch up."

"Oh, I completely forgot!" exclaimed Bertha suddenly before going into another room. "Before Cynthia went back to Sinnoh she left these for you and Melanie…"

"Which one of us?" asked Jake, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Jacob." replied Bertha. Then, to the surprise of the 2 young pokémon trainers, she returned with 2 pokémon eggs.

"W-what are those?" asked Jacob in shock.

"Pokémon eggs!" said Bertha with a smile. "Wait a minute, I remember this part…" she looked at the 2 eggs she was holding with a thoughtful expression, "Um… Oh, right! Here, this one is for you." She handed one of the eggs to Jacob. "And this one is for Melanie." She handed it to Jake. "Give it to her, will you?"

"Wow, thanks!" said Jacob, who still looked quite surprised. "What's the occasion?"

"They belong to Cynthia and she decided to give them to you as a way to thank you for helping out and getting in touch with me in the first place." She smiled. "You should be flattered. Cynthia wouldn't give an egg to a trainer unless she knew for certain that he or she would take good care of it."

"What pokémon are in them?" asked Jacob, who noticed that the two eggs looked different from one another.

"I don't know." said Bertha with a jolly smile, much to Jacob's dismay. "I forgot to ask!" She chuckled. "It's 2 PM now and my flight should arrive at Sinnoh by nightfall. I can ask Cynthia once I get there and tell you on the phone. Don't take my word for it, but I think that the eggs were each mothered or fathered by one her pokémon."

_About half an hour later, at the Pewter City airport_

"Okay, so you promise that you'll call me every day?" asked Bertha, looking at her nephew.

"Yes, I promise."

"Good." said Bertha with a smile. "But don't call until after 7 PM when the rates go down."

Jake chuckled. "You better go or you'll miss your plane."

"Oh, alright…" She gave her nephew a tight hug but her somewhat sad expression was soon replaced by her regular smile. "Okay… Bye-bye now!"

"Bye, have a safe trip!" said Jake with a smile, waving goodbye.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Jacob as they watched Bertha walk away.

"Look, I'm on a journey with you now. It's important to me, and if she moves to Pewter City she'll just be on her own. I don't think it's a good idea for a woman her age to travel around with us by foot, and in Sinnoh she has Cynthia and the rest of the Elite Four to keep her company." On top of there was also the fact that he wasn't ready to have his aunt being such a major part of his life again. He was hoping that he would be ready in the future, but he wasn't ready yet.

"I guess you're right." said Jacob with a sigh. It seemed that Bertha was so happy that her nephew was alive that she was willing to spend such a little amount of time with him for the sake of one day seeing him on a daily basis. "So now what?"

"Now?" asked Jake, raising an eyebrow. He took off his bag and opened it, revealing the egg he had to deliver to Melanie. "First we'll take this to Melanie and then we'll carry on."

"Alright!" said Jacob with excitement, earning himself a bark from his Bulbasaur. "Viridian City and badge number 3 here I come!"

"Don't do that…" said Jake, facepalming, "We're not on a TV show."

**A/N: In case you're wondering about the Viridian City Gym Leader… It's Blue.**

**Also, I'd like to mention that I will be very, **_**very**_** happy to get more reviews. This story currently has 52 followers and I only get reviews from 2 – 3 regular people, plus another random one here and there, whenever I upload a new chapter. One of the things standing behind writing this story is me wanting to see how my readers react to it. A review also lets me know that you're still following the story (as in still physically reading it). Each review that I get gives me more motivation to keep going.**

**I've also been updating very frequently lately so I'd appreciate to hear what you guys think about every chapter (or at least some of them). Your reviews can also contain questions, thoughts about what you think will happen or things that you hope will happen (not to mention that more reviews = a bigger chance that I'll take less than a week to update ^^).**

**Anyways, I'll really appreciate it if more of you will dedicate a minute or two to write me a few sentences every once in a while. Right now I feel like I'm writing this story for only 3 – 5 people…**

**Until next time! ^^**


	31. Meet the Champion (and Cyndaquil)

**A/N: Aww, thanks for the poem! ^^**

"That had to be the most unbelievable thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life!" exclaimed Jacob as he continued pacing back and forth in front of his friend, who looked like his head was going to explode.

"I know!" said Jake in frustration, "You told me already!" Jacob has been complaining for the past 30 minutes, and Jake couldn't wait to finish preparing lunch in order to have something he could shove into Jacob's mouth and shut it. After giving the egg to Melanie the previous evening they spent the night at Bertha's house (with her permission, of course). Then, in the morning, they went to Viridian City and arrived there after going through Route 2 and the Viridian Forest (and encountering some trainers, too).

Jacob, of course, went directly to the Viridian Gym while Jake decided to find a quiet spot to train on his own. It was then that he decided to approach Boldore on the possibility of being Jacob's pokémon. He would have brought it up sooner but it had obviously taken Boldore some time before he felt comfortable enough around Jacob. Nevertheless, the rock-type pokémon didn't seem to want to be with another trainer. So, in the end, Jake decided that it wouldn't hurt if Boldore stayed with him (since Boldore could prove to be a good training partner for his fire-type pokémon). This decision resulted in him being affectionately tackled to the floor by the heavy pokémon once again, much to his dismay.

After being gone two for hours Jacob came back looking angrier than ever before, and the following half an hour was spent with him ranting and with Jake, his pokémon _and_ Jacob's pokémon trying to find creative ways to distract themselves from Jacob's voice. "That Gym was an even more annoying maze than Sabrina's!"

"I know, you said that 7 times …" said Jake with a sigh as Bulbasaur let out a miserable-sounding groan and used his vines as earplugs.

"And the trainers there were quite tough! It took me almost 2 hours to make my way to the back of the Gym!"

"Kill me now."

"And what does that jerk of a Gym Leader say to me after I put all the time and effort in order to make it all the way to him?!"

"Boldore, climb on top of that rock and jump onto my head please. Maybe if it just gets squashed it won't even hurt…" Boldore, who didn't seem to realize that his trainer was only kidding, shook his head in disapproval.

"That I'm not ready to battle him! I only have 2 Badges, so what?!"

"Look, he is a former Champion…" said Jake with a sigh. Perhaps trying to actually console Jacob would be the best way to get him to stop whining. "Maybe it's for the best."

"Is a Gym Leader even allowed to do that?!"

"You know what?" asked Jake, bringing a hand to his chin. "I don't know. But I do know that, when you get the other 5 Badges you need aside from this one, you can battle him and then rub it in his face when you win."

"Yes! I am so going to do that!"

"And, when you think about it, facing some of the trainers there wasn't a waste of time at all."

"Yeah, I guess that's true…" said Jacob, looking like he was finally starting to calm down.

"Good." said Jake with a sigh as he took a bun and shoved it into his friend's mouth. "Now, as your friend, I want to help you feel better." Jacob mumbled a couple of things with the gigantic bun in his mouth, but Jake was obviously unable to understand a single word. "And what you need right now is to battle a Gym Leader."

Jacob grabbed the bun and took a bite out of it. "I 'shuppose you're right." he said as he chewed on it, "Man, thish ish really good!"

"Unfortunately for you-" said Jake eventually, knowing that as much as he wanted to help there wasn't much he could do, "-I'm no Gym Leader and I don't even know where the next Gym is, so this is where I step aside and let you take the wheel."

After they finished eating their lunch and feeding their pokémon Jacob said that the next Gym was located in Cinnabar Island. "We'll have to go to Pallet Town first and then find a boat that'll take us to the island."

"It's been a long time since I heard Cinnabar Island and the word boat mentioned in the same sentence." said Jake as he finished gathering his belongings.

"Yeah, I suppose not many people went there recently because of the volcano… But it's been a long time since _that_ happened and I heard that they finished rebuilding the city there. It's also been mentioned on the news that the Cinnabar Gym will be moved back to Cinnabar Island from the Seafoam Islands." *****

"Gym or no Gym," said Jake as he placed Charmander on his shoulders and held a sleeping pink Dratini in his arms, "it's been a while since I've gone to a beach! You'll have to go to the Gym without me."

"What happened to that intense desire of yours to become a Fire-type Master all of a sudden?" asked Jacob with a raised eyebrow and a grin.

"Geez, Jacob, it doesn't hurt to take a break every now and then!"

Jacob smiled. His friend seemed to have obviously no idea what type of Pokémon Gym the Cinnabar Gym was. "I dunno, Jake… I think this particular Gym will-"

"Oh, Jacob…" said Jake with a sigh, cutting him short, "What did I tell you to do when I've decided on doing something and when it looks like that something will bring me some happiness or relaxation?"

"To… not talk?"

"Correct."

Pallet Town certainly was significantly smaller than all the other Kanto cities Jake and Jacob had previously been to. It was late afternoon by the time the two trainers got there. The fact that Jacob was already familiar with route 1 (seeing how he has already been to Pallet Town once) and the fact that they hadn't run into any pokémon trainers on the way were the two main reasons why they managed to get there so quickly by foot.

"This seems like a quiet little town." commented Jake as he followed Jacob in the direction of Professor Oak's lab. Since they were already in Pallet Town, Jacob decided they might as well drop by and say hello. Sometimes Jake wished Pewter City would be as peaceful as Pallet Town appeared to be, but there were people who were quite fond of the whole big-city-environment.

"It is much smaller compared to any other city I've been to here in Kanto." said Jacob in response. His Bulbasaur, who was walking next to him, seemed to recognize the area they were in. "There also isn't a Pokémon Gym here, so I guess that helps explain it as well." Jake was about to say something but was cut short when Jacob looked around at him and said "This is the professor's lab. Let's go in and say hello."

Jake was in no hurry to get to Cinnabar Island, where Jacob's next Gym Challenge would supposedly take place (in fact he wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere at all), and since the professor did help them out a couple of times he figured he might as well go in and actually meet him face to face. Besides, a laboratory that was dedicated to researching pokémon couldn't possibly be as boring as, well… chemistry and physics. ******

Jacob was about to open there door when somebody opened it from the other sides. "Yeah gramps, sure thing!" said Professor Oak's grandson as he walked outside, "Smell ya later!" he closed the door beside him and looked around, noticing the two trainers in front of him. "Hey, if it isn't a familiar face!" he exclaimed, looking amused. He looked like he was about as old as Jacob and Jake were if not a few months younger.

"Oh, it's you…" said Jacob, frowning. "I've got something to say to you! First, I think-"

"I saw you on TV!" Jacob almost fell down to the floor, like some characters had often done in animes or other cartoons, when he realized that Blue wasn't even talking to him (and that he didn't even remember meeting him earlier that day in the Viridian Gym). Jake, who had realized who he and Jacob when standing in front upon hearing Blue call Professor Oak 'gramps', was also surprised to find out that he was the one who was being spoken to. "I would have gone to Pewter City to challenge Cynthia and the Sinnoh Elite Four, but I couldn't because Team Plasma was causing some trouble… Oh well… You shouldn't get a swollen head just because you're related to a good trainer, though. Smell ya later!"

"What was that all about?" asked Jake with a raised eyebrow as Blue walked away.

"I don't know," said Jacob, his right eye twitching, "and I don't even want to know."

"I find it kind of funny that he didn't even recognize-"

"Shut up."

"Okay." said Jake, holding back an amused chuckle.

After taking in a deep breath in order to calm himself down Jacob opened the laboratory's door and they walked inside. While Jacob had already been there once before Jake was only seeing the place for the first time. It wasn't remarkably big and it didn't look as busy as he had expected a pokémon lab to look. Other than the professor himself, who was sitting at the back and going through what appeared to be a stash of documents, there were 2 other scientists who looked like they were Oak's aides.

"You don't think they perform experiments on pokémon here, do you?" asked Jake quietly as they headed towards the professor's desk. It was something he has been unable to explain for years but something about laboratories always gave him the creeps.

"What? No! Of course they don't!" said Jacob, frowning.

Professor Oak, who had heard the two trainers talking, raised his gaze from what he was reading and looked at them. "Why, look who it is! Jacob, how have you been?"

Jacob had the huge urge to say something like 'Fine, but your grandson is a bit of an ass' or something else of the sort but he managed to hold it back and smile. "I'm good, how are you?"

"I'm more than fine, thank you for asking! I see this time your friend came with you." said the professor with a smile, looking at the other teenager in front of him.

"It's good to finally meet you in person." said Jake with a friendly smile, shaking the professor's hand. "I never really got a chance to thank you for giving us that map of Mt. Moon or for giving me tips on how to take care of Dratini when he came out of his egg."

"Oh, don't mention it! It was my pleasure!" said the professor. "You're quite a celebrity because of your aunt, you know. Heck, people ask me if I know you because, on TV, you appeared along with your Charmander. They think I'm the one who gave her to you as a starter pokémon."

Jake couldn't help but chuckle even though he wasn't very fond of all the attention he has been getting recently. "I know… some of the people we come across recognize me… I hope I can get used to that eventually…"

"Is this the notorious Dratini?" asked the professor with a smile as he looked at the pink Dratini Jake was holding, using the word 'notorious' as a joke.

"That's the one."

"He seems pretty energetic." said the professor as he took a closer look, causing the little serpentine dragon to grow nervous and start squirming randomly. "He's uncomfortable around strangers, which is a good thing…" There was a short silence. "All in all, he looks like a fine and healthy baby dragon-type."

"Oh, thanks!" said Jake with a smile, "That's good to know."

"So boys, is there anything I can do to help you?" asked Professor Oak as he sat down at his desk again.

"Not really, no." said Jacob. "We were just passing here on our way to Cinnabar Island so we thought we'd say hello."

"Oh, how nice of you!" said the professor with a jolly expression. "Cinnabar Island… It took them a long time but they finally finished rehabilitating the place… I heard that, in order to celebrate this and the reopening of the Cinnabar Gym, a big event is going to take place in two days."

"What sort of event?" asked Jacob, sounding curious.

"A special tournament is going to take place and, in order to draw attention and encourage trainers to come and participate; some exhibition matches between famous trainers are going to take place. I heard that the winner of the tournament will get a chance to battle one of those trainers and that all the money budgeted from the tournament will go to charity."

"That sounds really cool!" said Jacob, looking at Jake. "Hey, maybe we should enter the tournament as well?" Before Jake even had a chance to answer his friend looked back at the professor. "Who are the 'famous trainers' that are going to be present at the tournament?" he asked, obviously dying to know.

"I don't know." said the professor, much to the excited trainer's disappointment. "I don't think anybody does." There was a short silence. "I must say, the two of you couldn't have come at a better time! I'm expecting someone that I think the two of you, especially you, Jacob, will be very excited to meet." He was about to say something when the laboratory's door was opened again. "There he is now!"

Jake and Jacob turned around. The boy that was making his way towards them appeared to be about 2-3 years younger than them. He had a crimson-colored jacket, black shorts and a black hat with a yellow stripe in the middle of it, which he was wearing backwards. What caught the two trainers' attention the most was the Typhlosion that was walking by his side. Jacob silently looked at the trainer, who seemed very familiar, for a couple of seconds before finally remembering who he was. "No way!"

"I know!" said Jake, who looked just as bewildered.

"I never thought I'd randomly ran into the Cha-"

"Look at that Typhlosion!" said Jake as he walked forward and stood in front of the badger-like pokémon, ignoring the trainer completely. "Wow, they're even bigger than I thought!" The fully evolved starter pokémon, that looked like he was feeling rather awkward about being stared at like that, was about an inch or two shorter than Jake was. *******

It took Jake a few moments but he eventually stopped asking Ethan all sorts of random questions about his Typhlosion and finally allowed somebody else to say something. "You seem familiar." said Ethan, who seemed to be unbothered and even amused by Jake's excitement regarding Typhlosion. "Have we met before?"

"I doubt it. You must have seen me on TV."

"Oh, right!" said Ethan, "You're name's Jake, right?"

"Oh no…" said Jake, looking annoyed, "Don't tell me they said my name on TV too!"

Ethan chuckled and shook his head. "No, they didn't. Actually it was Erika who told me about you."

"Oh, you know Erika?"

"Jake, of course he knows Erika…" said Jacob with a sigh, "I'd be surprised if I found out that the Champion didn't know any of the Gym Leaders."

"Oh, you're the Champion?" Jacob facepalmed. Sometimes he wanted to slap Jake really hard, but he never did that because he knew that Jake would hit him back.

"Eeyup. The name's Ethan, from New Bark Town. Every once in a while I meet up with Erika for a pokémon battle. When I asked her whether she knew any details about the whole thing on TV she said that she knew you."

Jake was about to say something else when Jacob cleared his throat and gently shoved him away, standing in front of Ethan with a huge smile on his face. "Hi! I'm Jacob, I'm a huge fan! Um, I watched your championship battle with Lance on TV, and then the 2 that came during the 2 years that followed when you defended your title against challengers, and… I'm going to participate this year; I already have 2 Gym Badges! Look!"

Ethan smiled a nervous smile as Jacob showed him his Boulder Badge and Rainbow Badge, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. "Oh, good luck then… I still remember my 2nd Gym Battle with Bugsy…"

"So are you one of the 'famous trainers' that are going to be at that tournament on Cinnabar Island?" asked Jake, ignoring the frown Jacob shot at him for interrupting.

"No."

"Well… Do you happen to know who's going to be there?"

"Sorry, I really don't."

"Wait a minute…" said Jacob, "So why are you here if you're not just passing by in order to go to Cinnabar Island?" He couldn't think of a reason for the Pokémon League Champion himself to just leave the Pokémon League and come to Pallet Town, which didn't even have a Pokémon Gym in it.

"I asked Ethan to come here." said Professor Oak as he rose to his feet before coming over to the 3 trainers. "Do you remember the 3 Johto starters Elm asked you to bring to me yesterday?" he asked, getting a nod of approval from Ethan.

"Johto starters?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow. "Here in Kanto?"

"I know this doesn't really go according to tradition," said the professor with a sheepish smile, "but I had 3 extra trainers who were supposed to start their journeys today and I didn't have enough starter pokémon."

"I guess that explains it."

"Anyways," Professor Oak looked at Ethan, "I called you here because, in the end, only 2 of the 3 extra trainers that were supposed to come showed up. I need someone to take the remaining pokémon back to Professor Elm's lab in New Bark Town."

"Which pokémon didn't get picked?" asked Ethan with a curious expression as the professor walked back to his desk and returned with a pokéball in his hands.

"Cyndaquil." said the professor, handing the pokéball to Ethan.

"Really?" asked Ethan, looking surprised. "Well, it's their loss if you ask me."

The professor chuckled, "Remember, Ethan, everybody has a different opinion and a different taste."

"Yeah, I guess…" said Ethan with a sigh as he took the pokéball, "It's a shame, though. Before I brought them all here yesterday I let them out of their pokéballs so that they could breathe some fresh air and they all seemed excited about getting a trainer…"

"Oh, don't worry!" said the professor with a smile, "I'm sure that Cyndaquil will eventually-"

"I'll take him!" exclaimed Jake all of a sudden, cutting the professor short. It was a little rude of him, yes, but he couldn't just stand there and silently stare at that amazing opportunity.

"Huh?" Jacob, Ethan and Professor Oak all looked at Jake with surprised look on their faces.

"Um…" Jake rubbed the back of his head with one of his hands nervously and looked at Ethan. "Well, you said how much the 3 pokémon were excited about getting paired up with a trainer… I don't know what exactly Erika did tell you but I'm a fire-type trainer! And, um, I promise I'll take really, really good care of him!"

"Oh…" said Professor Oak, looking like he didn't know how to reply, "That's good to hear, Jake, but I don't know if Professor Elm-"

"Oh, come on…" said Ethan, much to their surprise, "Lighten up, professor! If half of all the positive things Erika told me about him are true then he's the best trainer for Cyndaquil!" He looked at Jake and his 5 pokémon; Charmander was sitting on his shoulders, Dratini was snoozing in his arms, Flareon and Vulpix were quietly sitting next to him and occasionally looking at each other and Boldore was timidly hiding behind his legs (probably because Ethan's Typhlosion looked intimidating to him). Ethan smiled, "I can tell he's taking good care of the pokémon he already has."

"Well… when you put it that way…" said the professor, bringing a hand to his chin, "I suppose Elm wouldn't mind…"

"Then this is settled." said Ethan with a jolly expression, looking at Jake again. When he spoke again, however, his expression was rather serious. "However, if you want this Cyndaquil, you're going to have to beat me first." There was a long silence during which Jake, Jacob and even the professor stared at Ethan with their mouths wide open. Eventually Ethan laughed, breaking the silence. "Relax, I'm kidding!"

Jake let out a sigh of relief and chuckled. As much as he has wanted to have a Cyndaquil for a long time he doubted he would have stood even the smallest chance in a pokémon battle against Ethan. With all due respect to determination, strategy and the bond between trainers and their pokémon, Ethan was still the Champion of Indigo Plateau. "Here you go!" said Ethan with an amused chuckle as he handed the pokéball to the trainer in front of him.

"Thank you so much!" said Jake, staring at the pokéball he was now holding. "I'll take good care of him, I promise!"

"How are you two planning to get to Cinnabar Island?" asked Ethan after a short silence.

"Well, it's already rather late so there probably aren't any boats that can take us there now…" said Jacob with a disappointed sigh. "I guess we'll find a place to spend the night at and wait until tomorrow in the morning…"

"Nonsense!" said Ethan with a smile. "I'll give you a ride. Gyarados and I will take you there!"

Jacob gasped. "You mean _the_ Gyarados? The shiny one you caught at the Lake of Rage?!"

Ethan chuckled and nodded. "Eeyup."

"No way! What are we waiting for?! Let's go! The tournament will take place the day after tomorrow!" He ran towards the door, followed by Ethan and Jake, "Wait until I tell Melanie about _this_, she'll be so jealous!"

"Ethan, wait a moment!" called the professor, causing the 3 trainers to come to a stop by the door and turn around. "I know we've discussed this subject a couple of times ever since you became the Champion and that you haven't shown any enthusiasm about it, but you should go to Mt. Silver."

Ethan silently looked at Professor Oak for a moment. It was the professor's serious expression that made him confused (because he couldn't figure out what could be so interesting about a mountain with no people on it and nothing interesting at the summit). "Okay, fine… If it's that important to you then I'll go."

"Good…" said the professor with a thoughtful expression, staring down at the floor, "Now, Ethan, when you reach the top-" He then raised his gaze and saw that the 3 trainers had already left. Sighing, he turned around and returned to his desk.

******* Basically Cinnabar Island is back to normal. Like every other case in this story the town, as well as the island itself, are going to be much bigger than they are in the games. Also, I'd like to mention that the town won't use up all of the island's territory; there will be areas with wild pokémon living in them.**

******** I actually love chemistry. **

********* According to Bulbapedia a Typhlosion is 1.7 meters tall.**

**A/N: Make sure to review if you love Typhlosions and Cyndaquils!**


	32. Chasing Ponyta

**A/N: To pheonixlady17 (guest), regarding your review to chapter 18: That was coincidental. **

The ocean turned out to be a very peaceful place to be at. Some people have always preferred to have their feet on solid ground, but those who didn't mind being in the open sea (and in the middle of nowhere) could easily get to enjoy the atmosphere. There was something about the silence (accompanied by the sound of the water and waves) that most people found relaxing. However, listening to _that_ was kind of impossible considering the fact that Jacob didn't stop talking (with the exception of giving Ethan chances to reply to him).

The three trainers were currently riding across the water connecting Pallet Town and Cinnabar Island on Ethan's Gyarados. It was already dark and the sky was clear, giving them a great view of the stars and the moon. Not that Jacob was paying any attention to anything, though. The aspiring trainer didn't seem to be running out of questions he could ask Ethan, whether they were questions about the Champion's own journey and whether they were questions regarding battling strategies or what not. To Jake's surprise (and even amazement), Ethan didn't seem to mind the fact that Jacob was being, well, extremely annoying.

At some point Jacob looked around (Ethan was sitting in front, Jacob was sitting behind him and Jake was sitting behind both of them). When he saw his friend he couldn't but laugh. Jake, unlike Jacob and Ethan who were simply sitting on Gyarados's back, was lying on his stomach and holding onto the water-type pokémon like his life depended on it. His pokémon (especially Charmander, for obvious reasons) were inside their pokéballs and the pokéballs were safely located inside his backpack. "What in the world are you doing?" asked Jacob, causing Ethan to look around as well.

"Well I can't hang on to you because that would be awkward." said Jake with a frown.

"Yeah, I suppose that would make me feel uncomfortable…"

"Who cares about that? I meant uncomfortable for me!"

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Didn't your dad ever teach you how to swim?"

"No."

"Oh, right… Sorry…"

"Calm down, Jake," said Ethan with an amused chuckle as he looked in the direction Gyarados was swimming, "this is perfectly safe; you have nothing to worry about!"

"I'll believe that once I get my feet back on solid ground…" This was responded to by a soft growl from water-type pokémon they were sitting on.

"I think Gyarados is amused by your behavior." said Ethan with another chuckle.

"Gyarados knows how to swim." said Jake with an annoyed frown.

"Still, you are acting a little silly." said Jacob.

"You don't even have the right to call anything silly while wearing that hat of yours."

"Why do you always make fun of my hat?" asked Jacob with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"Because you're always being annoying!"

"My hat doesn't 'look ridiculous' at all, for your information!" All Jake did in response was to raise an eyebrow and Jacob ended up looking at Ethan, unsure of what to say next. "Does it?"

Ethan looked around. "Sorry, but it kind of does…"

"Case closed." said Jake with an amused grin.

"Why don't you ever make fun of Melanie's hat?" asked Jacob with a frown. "Her hat looks way weirder than mine!"

"Because she doesn't annoy me." said Jake bluntly.

_The following day_

"Wasn't it awfully nice of him to take us all the way to Cinnabar Island?" asked Jacob as he and his friend walked on the beach. "It's a shame he can't stay for the tournament, though… I'd imagine that an opportunity to battle the champion by winning the tournament would get a lot of people to participate…"

"Perhaps it would get too many people to participate." said Jake with a blank expression as he looked up at the sky. It was already sometime around 9 AM and the sun was slowly making its way towards the center of the blue background above them. There were no clouds to be seen anywhere but, since it was still a rather early hour, the heat of the sun wasn't too much of a bother.

"What do you mean?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow.

"If they want to donate the money they raise to charity then they're going to want to make the event a humble one. Some of the money will probably be used to fund the whole thing."

"I suppose…" said Jacob, bringing a hand to his chin, "Still, I'm dying to see who's going to be there tomorrow." It seemed like he was about to say something else but he came to a stop all of a sudden. "Wait… where are we going?"

"What does it look like?" asked Jake, looking around at him with a raised eyebrow. "We're on the beach."

"I thought you were leading the way to the Cinnabar Gym!"

"How am I supposed to know where it is?" asked Jake, rolling his eyes and coming to a stop as well. "I told you yesterday that I'm not planning to do anything training-related today. It's not my fault you just followed me all the way here."

"Well… What about the tournament?" asked Jacob, "I thought you're going to enter? We don't even know where it will take place."

"It will take place tomorrow, not today, and I've spent the entire last week training with an Elite Four member. I think I'll be fine. Even if I lose, it's not the end of the world." He stopped talking and looked around. For some reason he, Jacob and their pokémon were the only ones on the beach. "This seems like the perfect spot."

"The perfect spot for what, exactly?" asked Jacob with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"The best spot to lie around and do nothing, of course!" He noticed Jacob roll his eyes and sighed. "Didn't you notice that I'm wearing swim shorts?"

Jacob blinked a few times. "Actually… No." He was so used to the red jacket and the pair of jeans that he had completely failed to notice the fact that his friend was wearing swim shorts and that he didn't have his jacket on.

"Well that's your fault, not mine." Jake smiled and sat down on the sand before opening his backpack. This seemed like a good time to let Cyndaquil out of his pokéball for the first time so that he could meet the other pokémon. "Aww, you're even cuter than I thought you'd be!" exclaimed the trainer as the little badger-like fire-type pokémon materialized in front of him.

"Give me a break…" muttered Jacob quietly as he rolled his eyes. First a Charmander in the middle of a forest, then an egg with a shiny Dratini in it, then an Eevee in the middle of a city and now a Cyndaquil. It was really starting to get annoying, but he knew that he didn't have a right to complain because of the pokémon egg Cynthia had given him. He was quite curious about what pokémon would come out of the egg (as well as from the one Melanie had received from the former Sinnoh Champion). It was amazing how a pokémon could get Jake to react like a little girl staring at a puppy rather than like his usual, normally apathetic self.

After Jake had finished introducing himself and his pokémon to Cyndaquil the fire-type pokémon simply stared at all of them for a few moments before waving his tiny forelimbs letting out a happy sounding chirp. "Ethan told me a little about how you and the other 2 Johto starters were excited to start battling." said Jake with a smile after watching Cyndaquil and the rest of his pokémon talk to each other a little (even if he couldn't understand what they were saying). "Tomorrow there will be a tournament that Jacob and I are going to participate in. I know that it's probably not the best idea to use a pokémon that has never battled before in a tournament, but… If you want to participate, I won't mind. So, what do you say? Would you like to take part?"

"_Cyndaquil!_" exclaimed the little fire-type pokémon with excitement, jumping up in the air. He seemed so excited, in fact, that the flames on his back appeared for a few seconds even though he wasn't using a fire-type attack.

"I'll take that as a yes. Well, time to go for a swim!" Letting Dratini go into the water could obviously result in him getting carried away by some current (or getting eaten by a Magikarp for those of you who have a sick sense of humor), so it looked like the shiny dragon-type was going to have to stay on the shore.

"Can't you do this _after_ the tournament?" asked Jacob, getting no response.

"Listen," said Jake as he looked at Charmander and Boldore, who for obvious reasons couldn't enter the sea as well, "I know you can't swim, so I'd hate to leave you hanging with Jacob because he's a party pooper,"

"Hey!"

"But I'm gonna."

"I thought you couldn't swim." said Jacob, once again rolling his eyes.

"I can't. That's why I'm going to stay near the shore."

"How terrific."

Jake let out a sigh and stood up. "Look, it won't kill you to lighten up every now and then." he said, stretching his arms, "It's not like you're entering the Pokémon League tomorrow."

"Yeah, but-"

"You gotta have some fun on your journey. Otherwise, what's the point?"

Jacob was quiet for a couple of moments. "Well… It is a nice looking and quiet day…" He took a few looks around and noticed that his pokémon seemed to be pretty content about just lying around in the sun. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to stay here for a while."

"Now, if you'll excuse me…" said Jake as he turned around to face the ocean. At that moment, completely out of the blue, something dashed right past him. In fact it passed so close to him that he ended up getting startled and falling backwards. "Hey!" he exclaimed with annoyance, looking at the unidentified thing as it continued to run away from them. "What was that?!" It was hard to tell because of how fast it was running, but it looked like a horse.

"Just a moment…" said Jacob, who was already looking through his pokédex, "Here, I got it!" Jake stood up and walked over to his friend, taking a look at the screen of the device. "It's Ponyta, the Fire Horse Pokémon."

Jake grinned, "This is just like when Vulpix first appeared and ate my breakfast."

Jacob noticed his friend's expression and immediately realized what he was thinking. "You already have 6 pokémon."

"So what?" asked Jake with a chuckle as he quickly gathered his belongings and returned his pokémon into their pokéballs (with the exception of Charmander who hopped onto his shoulders). "What's wrong with me carrying more than 6 if I don't use more than 6 at the same time?" Jacob was about to make an answer when his friend suddenly broke into a run and disappeared behind the hill the wild Ponyta was last seen running towards.

"I give up…" said Jacob with a sigh as he sat down, knowing that going after his friend now wouldn't result in finding him.

"Excuse me." Jacob turned around and saw that he was being spoken to by a man. The noticeable details about his appearance were his white moustache, his sunglasses and his walking cane (which he didn't seem to actually lean against). "Sorry for interrupting," said the man, removing his hat in a saluting manner and revealing a shiny, bald head, "but did you happen to see a wild Ponyta anywhere? It has a small scar over its left eye."

"I did see a Ponyta just now." said Jacob after managing to stop looking at Blaine's baldness. "I'm not sure whether it had a scar over its eye or not because it just ran past us, but my friend went after it." He stood up, looking slightly concerned. "What's the matter? Is it hurt or anything?"

"Not as far as I'm concerned." answered Blaine with a thoughtful expression. "I'm trying to catch it because it keeps causing trouble in the town."

"What do you mean?" asked Jacob, who was quite curious as to why a pokémon would do something like that.

"I've seen this Ponyta a few times already." said Blaine, "I don't know why, but it seems to have a rather harsh dislike towards humans. Ever since we started rebuilding the city it's been causing nothing but problems."

"That's odd… I'm sure there's a reason for all of that."

"That may be the case but it doesn't change the fact that someone can end up getting hurt, even if by accident. Don't even get me started on the actual damage it's been causing." There was a short silence after which Blaine smiled. "I'm sorry. I don't believe you're from here and I haven't had the chance to properly introduce myself. My name is Blaine; I'm the Cinnabar Island Gym Leader. You must be here for the tournament, correct?"

Jacob nodded. "I'm also here to challenge you! I heard that you're reopening the Gym here, I'll be happy to see it!"

"I am sorry to disappoint you, but the Gym will officially reopen only after the tournament is over. You'll have to wait until then."

"Wait, I bet you know who are the 'famous trainers' that are going to be there tomorrow!" said Jacob with an excited smile. It seemed very likely that Blaine, the Gym Leader, was in charge of the whole event, and if he was then it seemed even more likely that he would know the answer.

"Why, yes I do."

"Who?"

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

Jacob was about to say something in order to try to change Blaine's mind when his friend's voice reached his ears. "What, back so soon?" asked Jacob with a raised eyebrow as he turned around.

"When that Ponyta realized I had actually caught up it ran off again." said Jake as he came to a stop next to Jacob, trying to catch his breath. "It's playing hard to catch."

"What, you gave up that quickly?" asked Jacob with a grin.

"Hell no!" said Jake with a fake frown. "The harder it'll be to catch the better! I noticed it has a small scar over one of its eyes so I'll be able to recognize it next time, and then it won't get away!"

"If you couldn't stop it from getting away this time what makes you think you'll do better next time?"

Jake shrugged. "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."

Jacob rolled his eyes and was about to say that how unlikely it would be if Jake caught Ponyta with that kind of attitude when Blaine chuckled. "Hah! You have your aunt's sense of humor!"

"Um, thanks… Whoever you are…" said Jake with a confused look on his face. He didn't even need to ask in order to know how the man in front of him had recognized him. "Was that a compliment?"

"That depends on whether you choose to see it as a compliment or not." said Blaine with a hearty laugh. "Know what? I like the two of you and Bertha's a friend of mine! I'll let you take a look around my brand new Gym before it opens!"

_Later, at the Cinnabar Gym_

"Here we are!" said Blaine as he opened the door of the Gym and walked inside, followed by Jake and Jacob. The Gym looked nothing like Jacob had expected a fire-type Gym to look like. Unlike Erika's Gym, which was filled with plants, or Misty's Gym, which had pools in it, the design of Blaine's Gym was very simple. The only things Jake and Jacob were able to see in the big space of the building they were now in other than a door at the back were a few small-sized battlefields (like the ones in Cheren's Gym, for example). "And that," said Blaine as he pointed towards the door, which was quite a large distance away from them, "is where I'll be taking on challengers. In this particular area challengers can either challenge some of the other trainers in my Gym, if they feel like it, or be challenged by them. I'll also be here every once in a while to help other trainers with their training if they ask for my help."

"I have to admit…" said Jacob, "this isn't what I thought a Gym that has your specialty would look like…"

Jake, who was now wearing his usual clothes again, sighed and rolled his eyes. "You just have to ruin people's excitement, don't you?"

"This probably isn't going to be the design most people will expect when they come here for the first time." admitted Blaine with a nod of his head. "Rebuilding the rest of the town was obviously more important than rebuilding the Gym," he explained, "and most of the money was spent on that. I might give the place a complete makeover one day." He took off his hat for a few seconds, once again revealing his shiny head, and then put it back on. "However the way my Gym looks won't stop my pokémon from incinerating all challengers!" He laughed a hearty laugh. "They better have some Burn Heals!"

"Wait, what?" asked Jake, looking at Blaine with a raised eyebrow.

"Burn Heals are used to treat burns, of course!"

"This Gym is a fire-type Gym!" exclaimed Jake after a short moment of silence.

"Way to go, Sherlock." said Jacob with an amused grin.

"Um, yes…" said Blaine, raising an eyebrow, "I thought you knew."

"I didn't." said Jake, looking around at the Gym as if it now looked completely different. "Know what? You were right! Who needs to redesign this place? It will always be the coolest Gym ever!"

"Why?" asked Jacob, completely clueless.

"Because it's a fire-type Gym, duh!" said Jake with a roll of his eyes before turning to face Blaine. "I'm sorry; my friend just doesn't get it…" He then proceeded to shake the Gym Leader's hand with excitement. "Um, my name's Jake, I want to become an expert on fire-type pokémon!"

"Well then, it's nice to meet you!" said the fire-type Gym Leader with a smile. "If that's the case then you might want to consider joining my Gym!"

"Wow, really?!" asked Jake as he looked at Charmander, who was sitting on his shoulders. The little dinosaur-like pokémon also seemed excited about the Gym Leader's offer. "Awesome! Count us in!" Now he wouldn't need to go look for trainers who had rock, water or ground type pokémon with them; he could just wait for them to come all the way to him! There was also the fact that Blaine would most likely be able to teach him a few useful things. "Now all I need to do is to catch that sneaky pony!"

**A/N: Probably not the best way to end a chapter, but whatever… I'm updating like a maniac, so I can to do what I want! :P**


	33. The Cinnabar Tournament

**A/N: To Sparxthehdgehog (guest): I thought the part where he said "I'd hate to leave you hanging with Jacob because he's a party pooper but I'm gonna do it anyways" was a better attempt, but at least something worked. **

"Okay, come on, how cool is this!" exclaimed Jacob with excitement as he and Jake came to a stop. From the looks of it, they just arrived at their destination. What they were facing was a stadium (not one of those that had the capacity of 50,000 people but a much, much smaller one). According to what Blaine had told them the previous day, this was where the tournament would take place. There was no doubt that they were at the right location because a lot of people were arriving there as well. The two trainers were also able to catch a glimpse of a few television crews that were most likely there in order to broadcast the event.

"I hope there isn't a limit to the amount of trainers that can participate…" replied his friend, who seemed quite surprised at the large amount of people that were there. After all Pokémon Gyms don't reopen on a daily basis, and it was the first time a tournament was being held in honor of such an event. It was very likely that most of them were there in order to watch the tournament rather than take part but, from the looks of it, the tournament wasn't going to be a short one.

"There are so many people here that I can't tell where we're supposed to go in order to sign up…" After a few moments of wandering around aimlessly the two decided that it would be a better idea to just ask somebody to point them in the right direction.

They eventually managed to find someone who actually knew where to go, and after struggling to make their way through the crowd they reached a registration booth. "You may enter with up to 6 pokémon." explained the lady at the booth, "There will be 2 on 2 matches in the tournament. You will choose 2 out of the 6 pokémon you've registered with before each battle. Keep in mind that your choice will only apply for the upcoming battle and that you may change it before the next match."

"What if I only have 3 pokémon?" asked Jacob.

"You need at least 2 pokémon in order to participate. Having more than 2 can work to your advantage as it will give you a wider amount of strategic options, but it's not necessary."

_A few minutes later_

"Thank you for participating, your registration is complete." said the lady as she handed each of them a small note. "This will grant you access into the stadium once the tournament begins. Make sure you don't lose it."

"Okay, thanks." said Jake with a friendly smile as he and Jacob walked away from the booth.

"What are you doing?" asked Jacob with a raised eyebrow as he noticed the way his friend was looking around, as if looking for something.

"Well, you told me about what Blaine said about that Ponyta who was causing trouble." The rest of the previous day had been spent, unfortunately, in fruitless attempt of finding the troublesome pokémon.

"Do you seriously think you'll find it _here_?"

Jake shrugged. "It's not like I have anything better to do. The tournament won't start for another 2 hours or so."

"Out of my way!" Jake turned around and saw somebody familiar running in their direction. "Out of my way, out of my way!" He raised an eyebrow and stepped aside, causing Melanie to run directly into Jacob. His startled friend tripped and fell over while Melanie just kept on running towards the registration booth. She didn't even seem to notice that she had just accidentally knocked somebody over.

"Was that-"

"Yes." said Jake with an amused chuckle as he offered Jacob his hand, helping him up. "I don't think she even saw us, but she'll probably find us in a few minutes."

"Ah, you kiddos made it!" The two trainers turned around and saw Blaine standing in front of them. "This tournament sure is attracting more attention that I expected! This should raise plenty of money to donate to charity!"

"So, Blaine, can we meet whoever it is that's attending the tournament now?" asked Jacob. Participating in this tournament was certainly going to help him prepare for challenging Blaine afterwards. He was going to need all the practice he could get, especially when considering that 2 of his 3 pokémon were weak against fire-type moves.

"I just got off the phone with one of them and she said that they're already here on the island. They're trying to avoid the cameras, however, so you'll probably see them once the tournament begins."

"Hmm, so we know that at least one of them is a she…" said Jacob, who seemed quite disappointed at how Blaine had avoided giving him a direct answer yet again.

"You're such a genius." said Jake sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "That sure narrows it down."

"What, do you have a better idea?" asked Jacob with a frown.

"Yes. How does letting this go and waiting for the tournament to start sound?"

After continuing to argue in a similar manner for another minute or two before Jacob realized that he had had enough and decided to just end the pointless discussion then and there. They both looked at Blaine again and saw that he was busy talking to a trainer that seemed to be a few years older than Jake and Jacob. From the looks of it, however, the trainer looked like he wasn't in the mood to talk to Blaine (or to anybody else, for that matter).

"So, have you already signed up for the tournament?" asked Blaine with a jolly smile.

"Of course." said the trainer, raising an eyebrow in a 'was that a serious question' manner.

"Oh, come here, you two!" said Blaine, looking at Jake and Jacob who came over. "This is Colton; he's one of the trainers in my Gym."

"Hello." said Jake with a friendly smile, obviously excited to meet another fire-type trainer. "I'm Jake; I'll probably join Blaine's Gym after the tournament." He held out his hand in a friendly manner, "It's nice to meet you!"

Colton looked at the younger trainer's hand for a few moments and then raised his gaze to meet his. "Just because your aunt's an Elite Four don't think you're something special." he said bluntly, turning around and walking away with his hands in his pocket.

"Um…"

"Yeah, he has some issues." said Blaine with a shrug of his shoulders. "But you'll-"

"What, see that he's a nice guy once you get to know him?" asked Jacob.

"I meant to say that you'll get used to him." said Blaine before taking out a vibrating cell phone out of and holding it to his ear. After listening to what the person on the other side of the line said he hung up and looked at the two trainers in front of him. "Well, I need to go now. Good luck in the tournament, you two! Make sure you put on a good show!"

The two trainers watched Blaine as he walked away and disappeared into the crowd. "I like this guy." said Jake after a short silence.

"Why?" asked Jacob with a raised eyebrow, thinking that his friend was talking about that mean-looking trainer from Blaine's Gym. "He acts like a complete jerk. He seems like everything that you hate!"

"I was talking about Blaine."

"Oh, silly me…" said Jacob with a sheepish smile, "Still, you're going to have to get used to him if you decide to stay and join Blaine's Pokémon Gym."

"Okay, let's make one thing clear." said Jake as he stretched his arms. "If anything, _he_'s the one that's going to have to get used to _me_."

"Yeah…" said Jacob with a chuckle, "I suppose that's true."

"Hey, guys! Over here! Heyyyyy!" The two turned around and saw that Melanie was once again making her way in their direction. This time, however, she seemed to be paying attention to where she was going. Regardless of that, Jacob seemed like he was ready to jump out of the way if it proved necessary.

Because of the large number of people who were by the stadium in order to either watch the tournament and / or participate in it, the three trainers decided to find a quiet place to sit at away from the stadium in order to get some quiet until the tournament would begin. "So how did it go?" asked Jacob as the three of them sat down on a bench. "Did you earn the Boulder Badge?" He knew that, while Melanie could be very persistent, she might have decided to stop trying to earn the Boulder Badge for the time being in order to be able to make it to the tournament in time.

"See for yourself!" said Melanie with a smile, holding her Thunder Badge between her index finger to her middle finger and her Boulder Badge between her middle finger and her ring finger. "Ta-da! 2 Gym Badges down, 6 more to go!"

"Wow, that's really cool!"

"You didn't think I was going to let you get ahead of me, were you?" asked the brunette with a grin.

"Not even for a single moment." said Jacob. Melanie sure could be very competitive, but he didn't mind that at all. Competitiveness was okay, in his opinion, as long as it was kept from being taken too far. Plus, unlike Brad, Melanie wasn't a complete pain. Brad was like a walking headache with a mouth, meaning that after getting to you he would keep talking, thus becoming an even bigger headache. And after that, he'd talk some more. "That must have been difficult."

"It was," admitted Melanie, "but you could say I got a little bit of help…"

"What do you mean?" asked Jacob, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Well… After losing to Brock for, um, the 5th time, I went to train by a river and saw a wild Seadra… So I caught it…" For some reason she didn't seem as excited as she had been when she had first shown Jacob and Jake her Onix and Caterpie on the way to Cerulean City.

"Oh, you caught a water-type pokémon? That's neat. Can I see it?"

"Um, I'd rather not let Seadra out of his pokéball for the time being…" said Melanie, rubbing the back of her head with a nervous look on his face, "You see, we have some, um… communication problems, to say the least…"

"What does that mean?" asked Jake, finally joining the conversation.

"He doesn't really listen to me… The only reason he attacked Brock's pokémon during the battle was because he got angry once they attacked him, not because I told him to…"

"Oh, I see…"

"But everything's fine!" said Melanie after a short silence, smiling. "I'll figure this out!"

"Aww, look at that!" said a voice, followed by a squeal. The three trainers looked in the direction of the sound and saw 3 girls standing in front of them. They seemed to be around the same age and about as old as Jake and Jacob. The one that had just spoken wore a pair of jeans with a red belt and a gray belly shirt with a picture of a red flame on it. She had red eyes as well as red hair, which had somehow been done in a way that it represented a flame.

One of the other girls wore what appeared to be a school uniform; a blue full skirt dress and pink trousers as well as a small pink necktie. The 3rd one was wearing what appeared to be some sort of a light blue and white flight suit and a light blue helmet with purple feathers on each side that resembled the color of her hair. "Those are the two most adorable Charmanders I've ever seen!" continued the first girl, looking at Jake's and Melanie's Charmanders.

"Oh, um, thank you…" said Jake with a confused expression as the other two girls looked at each other, looking slightly embarrassed at the way their friend had just approached 3 strangers.

"Can I look at one of them?" asked the girl, unable to conceal her excitement.

"Um… Sure, knock yourself out…" She seemed like a nice person who wouldn't hurt a pokémon, so it didn't look like there was any reason to say no.

"Oooooh! Thank you!" said the girl as she gently picked up Jake's Charmander in order to take a closer look at her. At least she didn't the pokémon like Melanie had been fond of doing to Jake's Flareon back when he was still an Eevee (being a Flareon, he was now bigger and had an easier time breaking free of her grasp).

"You seem to be rather fond of fire-type pokémon." said Jake after a short silence, unable to not notice her appearance.

"Oh, yes! They're the coolest!"

"Hey, what's that?" asked Melanie, pointing up at the sky. There appeared to be a white swan-like pokémon hovering above them and looking at them.

"That's a Swanna." said the girl with the flight suit and helmet, who seemed to have recognized the pokémon right away and without too much difficulty.

"A Swanna, here in Kanto?" asked the girl in the uniform, bringing a hand to her chin, "How peculiar."

"Oh, you found them, Swanna! Thanks!"

"Is that a propeller in this girl's hair?" asked Jacob with a raised eyebrow as Swanna's trainer ran over to them.

"I've been looking everywhere for you!" she said, finally coming to a stop in front of the group. "You remember me, right?" she asked, looking at the girl in the flight suit. "It's me, Skyla!"

"Of course I remember you." replied the latter, "To not remember you would have been quite disrespectful on my part."

"I know we didn't get a chance to battle in the Pokémon World Tournament," said Skyla with a giggle, "but that only makes me look forward to our exhibition match even more!" She held out her hand. "I'm sure we'll both have a great time battling each other up in the air!"

"I'm sure it will be quite an elegant match." said Winona, shaking Skyla's hand. "However grueling the battle, you will witness the magnificent choreography of bird pokémon and I! That is all." With that she turned around and walked away.

"Hee-hee! Serious, are we?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry…" said the girl in the uniform, "Winona can be like that from time to time…" She approached the flying-type Unova Gym Leader with a smile and held out a hand, "I'm Roxanne; it's nice to meet you! I'm glad to see you had a safe trip!" *****

Skyla smiled. "Yep! Unova's quite far away from Kanto, but the trio and I eventually got here!"

"Winona?!" exclaimed Melanie all of a sudden as she jumped to her feet (much to the dismay of her Charmander, who had been napping peacefully in her arms up until that moment). "Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!" She then broke into a run and ran after Winona (who, unfortunately for herself, hasn't gotten too far). "Your Altaria is super cute! Let me see it!"

"Dear me…" said Roxanne, looking at the brunette chasing after Winona with a look of concern on her face.

"Don't worry," said Jacob, "Melanie will calm down. Hopefully…" He got up from the bench he was sitting on and approached her. "So you're Gym Leaders from Hoenn?"

Roxanne nodded. "We're here to help draw attention to the charity event." she said with a smile.

"Since we're introducing ourselves," said Flannery, handing Jake's Charmander back to him, "I'm Flannery. When I heard this event was meant to celebrate the reopening of a fire-type Pokémon Gym _and_ to raise charity I just had to come over and help!"

"You wouldn't happen to be a fire-type Gym Leader, would you?" asked Jake as he slowly stood up, getting a smile and a nod in response. "Then let's battle!"

"You didn't seem so eager to battle Blaine when you met him." said Jacob with a raised eyebrow.

"That's because Blaine will be here all the time!" said Jake, rolling his eyes. "Flannery's only here for the tournament!"

"Sorry, but if you want to battle me you'll have to win the tournament!" said Flannery with a sheepish smile.

"Huh?"

"Yep! The winner of the tournament will get to have a match with me and a match with Chili, one of the former Striaton City Gym Leaders!" She paused for a moment. "I heard that, if the winner beats both of us, he or she will get to have a battle with Flint!"

"Flint's here?!" Jake was kind of nervous to see him again because of how he had made fun of his fro the last time they had met. Flannery chuckled and nodded.

"So when you mentioned 'the trio'," said Jacob, who had obviously heard about the three brothers from Striaton City before, looking at Skyla, "you were talking about Chili and his brothers?" Skyla nodded. "So exactly how many exhibition matches are going to be held?"

"Blaine told me that the exhibition matches will take place before the semi-finals." said Skyla. "There will be my battle against Winona."

"I'll be taking on Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader." said Roxanne. "I look forward to him demonstrating how he battles, and with which pokémon."

"Cress and Cilan are going to battle, um…" Skyla paused, bringing a hand to her chin. "Oh, this is embarrassing… I forgot their names…" she looked at Jacob, "They'll be battling the Kanto water-type and grass-type Gym Leaders."

"You mean Misty and Erika?"

"Yeah, that's them!" said Skyla with a smile.

"Lastly, I'll be battling Chili." said Flannery. "That makes a total of 5 matches."

_Later, in the stadium's waiting room_

"Wow, there are so many trainers in here!" said Melanie as she looked around at the rather crowded room. After talking to the Gym Leaders they had come across for a while they all realized that it was time to get moving and headed for the stadium. She, Jake and Jacob were now waiting with all the other participants while the Gym Leaders were probably with the rest of the spectators, waiting for their exhibition matches to take place before the semi-finals.

"I know!" said Jacob, "This is going to be great! I can't wait to see the exhibition matches, too!"

"There's no way that I'm going to pass up on the opportunity to battle _two_ fire-type Gym Leaders." said Jake, looking at Jacob and Melanie. "Don't take it personally if I get to battle with one of you at some point, though."

"Listen, Jacob," said Melanie with a grin, "you better not lose until I get a chance to battle you! You still owe me that battle we said we'd have once we each got our first Badge! Now we both have 2 Badges so it's a good a time as any!"

"You're on!"

"Hey, look at the screen." said Jake after a short silence, pointing at the giant screen that was in the room. There was probably another screen outside where the spectators were. "They just posted the matchups for the first round."

"Wow, there are so many names on this screen!" exclaimed Melanie after a few seconds of not being able to find her own name. "I can't see myself or either one of you!"

"Hey, Jake, there's your name!" said Jacob eventually. "You're on the very first battle of the first round! What are the odds, huh?"

"Who am I battling?" The trainer he was going to battle was most likely somebody he has never met even once before, but he still wanted to get to know his opponent's name before the match.

"Oh, my… How unfortunate for you…" Jake, Jacob and Melanie turned around and saw Colton standing behind them. He was also looking at the screen. "To get to battle me on the first round… Oh well, it's not like you stood that much of a chance against anybody anyways."

"Well, good luck to you!" said Jake with a friendly smile and a wave of his hand, completely ignoring the smug grin on Colton's face. Colton, having expected Jake to grow somewhat annoyed or angry at what he had just said to him, found himself raising an eyebrow at the response he was given. He simply stared at Jake for a few more seconds before turning around and walking away with an annoyed look on his face.

******* I always liked Winona. She seems like Elite Four material to me. She can definitely take Drake's place when he eventually croaks.**

**A/N: The last few chapters (except for this chapter, which was uploaded 7 days after the previous one, as usual) were uploaded at a slightly faster pace because I'll be away between the 5th and 11th of September on a trip to Spain with my uncle. Truth be told, I planned to upload this chapter a little bit sooner and the next one right before going away, but this chapter took a little longer than I had originally expected and I know that I won't finish the next one before going away (There's the whole packing and preparing, not to mention that on the 4th I won't be able to write at all because it'll be a holiday eve and the family's coming over).**

**I don't know whether any of you have ever played a survival horror game called Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but the sequel to that game (called Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs) is coming out on the 10th of September. I apologize in advance, but the first thing I'll do when I get back from Spain will be to play it. I'm super psyched about it! I'll start the next chapter tomorrow and write as much as I can before going away and, once I finish the game after coming back (or just come to a point where I'm literally scared into taking a break), I'll carry on with it. I can guarantee that chapter 34 will be up within no longer than a week after I come back, meaning that I'll upload it on the 18th (or maybe on the 19th if it takes me until after midnight to finish. Either way it's kind of the same thing because I always upload my chapters right before I go to sleep [which is after midnight]. So, when you think about it, chapter 34 will be uploaded sometime between 00:00 – 03:30 on the 19****th**** [my time]). There's also a chance that I'll upload it sooner, but I don't want to make any promises.**

**Whatever happens, I don't think you guys have anything to complain about. I mean, I've kept to my 1-chapter-per-week schedule so far (and if I didn't I made up for it afterwards [or in advance, like I'm doing now]). I also let you know whenever I experience a delay so that you won't end up worrying that I might have abandoned this story. All in all, I think I'm a fair man.**

**By the way, Zero1313, the soundtrack of Pokémon Ruby / Sapphire / Emerald consists mostly of trumpets.**


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